It's a Fairytale, Right?
by Tonoxic
Summary: "If you want to pay me back, tell me something." "What?" he asked. "I don't know...anything." she replied. "Then I'd tell you a fairytale."
1. Chapter 1

A small girl closed the door of her small, tattered, shed-like home. In her hand was a torn plastic bag containing stale bread and bits of meat; almost all of her lunch.

Her alert eyes darted both ways before they decided it was safe. She then noiselessly darted across her small yard and through a small tear in the fence. She then slowed down and turned to face her home with a small grin on her face.

She twirled back around and dashed up the small hill before her. On the top of that hill was a little forest. Her little feet made little noise as she expertly navigated her way through an invisible path.

The shuffling of her feet halted as she took in the sight in front of her. The sun was low on the horizon and the brown leaves under her feet shuffled in the wind for freedom, scratching her exposed legs.

"Mister, are you here?" she called.

There was silence. Any person who might have been watching her would think she was talking to the wind. A few minutes later that person would've been proven wrong.

The leaves on nearby rustled indicated the presence of another living being. Her indigo eyes snapped to the disturbance and she clutched the bag closer to her chest. A few seconds later a heavily bandaged adult emerged. He, like the girl, was mal-nourished.

His clothes, although dirty, seemed richer than her worn dress. There wasn't the slightest show of his skin through the bandages that covered him.

Her hands fell to her side and she giggled.

"Mister, you scared me."

She good-naturedly walked up to him and placed the food in his hands.

"Here, it isn't much but it should do."

He gave her a slight smile.

"Thank you." he whispered.

"No problem." she giggled as she took a step back and sat in the leaves.

Her bright eyes studied him as he opened the bag and began munching on the bread.

"I'm sorry I couldn't get you something to drink." she murmured. "It must be uncomfortable eating that dry thing alone…"

He looked up at her and gave her another of his slight smiles.

"This is enough. Thank you for worrying."

Other than his lips, his gentle blue eyes were the only part of him showing.

"I only wish there was something I could've given you." he muttered;

She propped her chin up and licked her dry lips.

"If you want to pay me back, tell me something."

He blinked twice.

"What?" he asked.

She shrugged. "I don't know. Anything interesting I guess."

His eyes got a far away look as he laced his fingers together and propped his chin onto them. His eyes lifted towards the sky.

"Okay then…I'll tell you a story." he whispered.

She shifted closer to hear him properly.

"What kind of story?"

"A fairytale." he replied.

He lifted the bread to his mouth once more before putting it down.

"There was once a world that was almost exactly like ours. There were two major differences. That world was divided and ruled by kingdoms…also, it was also a place filled with magic."

-O-

Thousands of people walked the crowded streets of the Atatanian Kingdom. Unlike most places, this place was impossibly quiet. The people's feet made no noise and their lips spoke muted whispers. Their eyes showed no emotions and made no signs.

These people were the same. They did the same things and thought the same things; too weal to handle their own minds.

-O-

"But how could they be too weak to handle their own minds?" the girl interrupted him.

He looked down from the sky and smiled at her. He put his hand on his chest and gave his answer.

"Because their hearts were weak."

He looked back up at the sky before continuing.

"But there were also people with hearts strong enough for a mind of their own. One such person was a young solider."

-O-

On a corner street in a small, stone house, an athletic male sat reading. His eyes were half-closed as he unconsciously gazed through the words. Just as he was about to fall into complete slumber, a mighty tremor startled him into alertness.

"What the-"he gasped just in time to see a building crumble into rock on the next block.

As soon as that happened, the shaking halted.

"Shit!" he cursed as he swung over the railing of his porch and into the streets.

A couple of minutes later, he arrived at the scene of the destruction. There was nothing there.

"Hey," he said stopping a void passerby. "Wasn't there a building here?"

The person turned and gave his constant blank look. "Yes." He then turned and continued walking as if nothing happened.

"So then, where is the rubble?" the solider asked himself as he passed his hand through his orange hair.

The next moment everything happened.

Blue, glowing cubes appeared from the ground the building previously occupied. It materialized into a pale, dark haired, petite woman wearing long, flowing, white robes.

The ground around her was frozen solid.

"What the hell…"he gasped as he absorbed the scene before him.

Her dim eyes slowly lifted from the ground and locked with his amber ones.

"Tazen." she whispered.

"What?" he asked.

She took a step forward with her hand outstretched and the ground around her foot froze on contact. He unconsciously took a step back. She made movement to come closer but her foot suddenly gave way underneath her and she collapsed.

"H-Hey!" he shouted hesitantly. After a few moments with no response, he cautiously approached her. He flipped her over to study her face.

Her eyes were closed and her face relaxed. Her eyebrows were slight and small apart. From her lips came soft, even breaths.

She looked so…innocent.

-O-

"Ivy! Ivy!"

Our storyteller's eyes snapped from the sky and scanned the area for any possible threats.

The girl before him smiled sheepishly as her curly blonde hair flew in the cold breeze.

"My sister." she admitted.

The man calmed and his eyes softened.

"Is that your name? Ivy?"

She nodded and he smiled at her.

"Mine is Rojuro."

With another shout from her sister, Ivy was on her feet saying a hasty goodbye."

As she ran off towards her home, she looked up at the night sky and giggled.

"I'd have to bring the mister water next time or he'll be too horse to finish the story." she mused as she took an unnaturally large step. This resulted in her loosing her balance and falling.

She rolled a little way down the hill and gazed up at the stars.

"I wish she was actually my sister." she whispered to the night air.


	2. Chapter 2

"Mister! Mister!" Ivy called as she ran bare-footed to the place he was sitting. He looked down from the sky and at her. He offered her a small smile before looking back at the late evening sky.

"Hey mister, why are you always gazing into the sky like that?" she asked as she sat in the leaves. He looked down at her in minor shock. His surprise soon changed into another of his gentle smiles.

"I actually don't know." he admitted. "Maybe if you sat here you would be too."

"Hmmm…" she hummed with puff cheeks. "You're weird."

He gave a hearty laugh.

"You think so?"

"Enough talking, story-time now!" she exclaimed as she grabbed her toes and started to rock.

"Okay, okay!" he chuckled. "The strange woman collapsed on the street and he, knowing no one would have the mind to pick her up, took her to his home where she slept for two days."

-O-

He once-again added an extra blanket to the ones on her. His hand touched her forehead and he couldn't help but frown. Her skin was so cold was so cold to the touch.

Suddenly, her hand snapped from her side and grabbed his wrist. A low moan escaped her lips. His eyes widened in surprise ad a bit of fear. Her eyes clenched down tightly then relaxed a few times before they fluttered open.

Her deep purple-blue orbs gazed into his amber eyes and they stared at each other in silence. Unlike their first meeting, her eyes were full of life and didn't mimic those of the void citizens in any way.

Tired of all this staring, she tried to sit up and familiarize with her surroundings. Before she was even up he was pushing her back down. On contact with her cold skin he winced.

"You shouldn't be up yet." he protested.

She effortlessly slapped his hands away from her and slid off the bed. She took the few steps towards the window and stared out of it. Her eyes showed surprise and unfamiliarity as she looked towards the city.

"H-hey! You!" he stuttered.

She turned towards him with a face filled with questions. Her hand rose, pointing to the palace at the centre of the city. Her lips parted and mute words fell to his ears.

"What?" he asked.

She seemed sort of surprised that he didn't understand her.

"I asked," she repeated barley audibly. "Where is this place?"

He looked at her in blank disbelief.

"What? Is there something on my nose?" she asked as her fingers gently grazed said area.

"Uh…no. I was just merely actually believing that you were an alien." he admitted.

She rolled her eyes and placed her hands on her hips.

"I look human enough, don't I?" she shot. "You know what? Don't answer. Just tell me where I am."

He mumbled something under his breath before answering.

"You're in Shanati, the crown city in the Atalanian Kingdom."

She blinked in confusion. "Atalanian? Never heard of it."

He seemed to want to bang his head on a wall.

"Lady, where **do** you live? This is well…one of the strongest kingdoms that ever existed!" he exclaimed.

"Well, I'm sorry! Where I come from-"

She paused and suddenly began repeating her last bits of sentence to herself. She snapped her fingers as if trying to remember something. He looked at her with a raised brow.

"Where you come from…?" he encouraged, rolling his hands for effect.

She looked him square in the eyes.

"I don't know"

He smacked his hand into his forehead.

"You don't know?" he asked slowly.

"That's what I just said, idiot."

His face reddened at being deemed idiot by someone who couldn't finish their sentence.

"Look lady, I don't want to be called idiot by someone like you."

"Like me how? Someone who makes the idiot beside her feel dumber?"

"Why you…" he growled but was abruptly cut off by a soft knock on the door.

He gave her a hateful glare before turning to answer the door.

There stood a girl no more than eleven years of age. She had short, brown hair and her eyes seemed to be deep, brown pools of nothingness.

She silently handed him a paper bag which he accepted with a small "Thank you".

Without even acknowledging his words, she turned and walked silently away.

"Who was that?" his guest asked as he closed the door.

He gave her the 'that-ain't-your-bussiness-but-I'm-still-gonna-answer-you' look.

"My sister," he replied.

"What's wrong with her?" she asked.

"What do you mean what's wrong with her?"

"Her eyes are all…"

He shook his head. "Chick, where have you been?"

She shrugged.

"She's a hollow." he sighed.

"A hollow?"

"Yes, a hollow."

"What's that?"

He seemed itching to punch something at this moment.

"Hollow are people with hearts too weak to handle a mind of their own." he explained. "They can be programmed to do duties by a magician. If someone with stronger magic is present, they obey that person."

She gave a soft "oh…"

"But why do you call them hollows?" she asked.

"I don't know!" he snapped. "That's just their name."

"Name…" she repeated looking down at the floor.

"Yeah, name. Like I'm Ichigo and you're…" he trailed off and looked at her expectantly.

"I'm…" she repeated.

"What's your name?" he said getting straight to the point.

She stared at him blankly for a few seconds.

"I don't know." she admitted. He slammed his face into a wall.

"You're asking a load of questions and can't remember shit. I think you got amnesia." he stated after a brief silence.

"Amnesia?"

"Yeah, amnesia. It's a sickness that makes you forget."

"Yeah right." she grumbled sarcastically.

"No, I'm serious! Tell me something about yourself for example."

"Like what?" she asked.

"Your age…something you've done…that sort of thing." he replied.

"Well…I'm…I'm a teenager…or a young adult..." she muttered unconfidently.

"See lady, I'm right. You don't remember shit."

She shrugged as she plopped down onto his couch.

"Got anything to eat?" she asked trying to brush-off the previous subject.

"Nope." he answered, obviously not wanting to feed her,

"Sweet, go get me something" she said ignoring him. She grabbed the remote and turned on his television.

"Go get it yourself." he grumbled.

She ignored his last sentence with an enthusiastic-less "Thank you."

He snorted before his eyes widened in surprise. On its own, his body turned and headed to the kitchen. A few minutes later, he returned with a sandwich at hand.

"You know magic?" he gasped as he put the food before her. She looked at him with large curious eyes.

"What are you talking about?" she asked in true confusion before noting the sandwich. Her eyes lit up and she hastily thanked him before digging in.

"I'm sure you do." he said as he sat beside her. "You manipulated my movements."

She shrugged in disinterest.

"Are you sure you have amnesia?" he asked in doubt.

She rolled her eyes.

"You're the one who said I did and plus, do all amnesia victims forget everything?"

"Well...no but-"

"Exactly."

There was a brief period of silence.

He stood and walked around her. Her eyes trailed him as he stood behind her ultimately causing her to turn around. He sighed.

"Ichigo, what are you doing?"

"Turn around." he ordered.

"What?"

"You heard me, midget. Turn around."

"Why?"

"Cause I might know a few tricks that might help your memory."

Without another word, she obeyed his orders.

He pushed her head down a bit and laid his hands in the centre of it. A chant floated from his lips and a pale glow shone from his eyes.

"Well…look at that." he mumbled.

"What?" she asked with excitement slipping into her voice.

"It's your name." he replied.

"Really?" she exclaimed. "What is it?"

"Ru…Ru…" His head dipped forward to make out the word. "…Rukia."

"…Just Rukia? Is that all? Don't I have a family name?"

"Apparently not." he answered.

There was another brief moment of silence that Ichigo broke.

"Shit!"

"What's wrong?" she asked clearly startled.

"Someone set you up, lady. There's a nasty delete spell on you."

"Delete?" she repeated.

"Yeah…like when you throw files; delete."

"Can you restore my memories?"

"Only the person who did it can do that." he explained.

She cursed.

He dropped his hands and the light in his eyes died.

"Nice meeting you, lady. I'd love to have you stay but I apparently am lying and have not intention of looking after a complete stranger with no memories whatsoever." he said as he pulled her off his couch and lead her to the door.

"I wish you all the best in life and the best of luck." He pushed her out of the door.

"Goodbye."

With that he slammed the door in her baffled face.

With a sigh, he turned and made his way to his kitchen. He opened the package he got from his sister. In it was a container of food, a bottle of pills, a slice of cake, a bottle of juice and a note. He threw the note, ate the food, drank the juice, took the pills and refrigerated the cake.

He then made his way to the bathroom and an hour later emerged with a towel wrapped around his waist and another drying his wet hair. Still dripping from his bath, he went to his fridge and a half eaten piece of cake. He opened a drawer for a fork before sitting on is counter-top and eating his cake.

"Can you pass me a fork?"

He wordlessly reached down and took a fork out of the drawer. He tossed it on the room receiving a small "Thanks.".

He nodded and continued eating his cake.

The half-eaten cake…

The half-eaten cake his sister gave him…

The half-eaten cake his sister gave him earlier today…

The half-eaten cake his sister gave him today and was now eating for the first time.

He slowly lifted his head from his plate and stared at the figure perched at the edge of his table.

"Hey." she chirped as she chewed on **his** cake.

"What the hell are you doing here lady!" he screamed as he jabbed an accusing finger in her direction. "You ate **MY** cake!"

"No, I'm **eating **your cake." She corrected as she put the fork between her lips.

He nearly reached over and strangled her.

"You witch!" he snarled. "Get out of my house."

"No can do." She said shaking her head.

"What the hell do you mean 'no can do'?" he cried. "Just pick your ass up and leave!"

She sighed and looked up at him with big, cute, watery eyes. He felt as if hands had grabbed his heart and were slowly trying to pull it apart. She seemed so cute and irresistible and pitiful and…and…

CUNNING! That cunning witch!

He mentally smacked the hands away from his heart. That blasted witch thinks she can cheat him with her stupid act?

"Get the hell out of my house." he growled. She stuck out her lip.

"Ichigo please!" she whined. "I have nowhere else to go! Are you just going to leave me on the streets to starve? Dear God! Don't do this to me! Don't you have a heart?"

"This has nothing to do with if I have a heart or not. Just get out of my house."

Rukia seemed simply stunned by his remark. Her nose quickly crinkled in rage and her eyes narrowed.

"Fine!" she screamed. "I'll just go!"

She stomped out of the room and Ichigo followed calmly behind.

"I hope your conscious haunts you if and die and you…you…you…I HOPE YOU DIE!"

With this she slipped into her shoes and rushed out the door.

-O-

"The solider is so st-u-pid." Ivy whined. "Why didn't he let the lady stay?"

Our storyteller smiled at her.

"I guess he was a bit selfish." he admitted.

"A bit selfish? He was really selfish!" she complained.

The storyteller chuckled and looked back up at the sky.

"Maybe he had his reasons." he offered.

"Reasons shmeazions." Ivy groaned childishly.

"Ivy, dear, it's going to rain." Rojuro said not looking away from the sky.

She looked up at the sky to see dark clouds gathering.

Her mouth pulled downwards into a frown.

"Mister, would you be okay by yourself?" she asked worriedly.

"Of course I would." he smiled.

With a frown, she stood and rushed down the hill. Before reaching the bottom, she turned to wave,

"You'll continue the story tomorrow, right?"


	3. Chapter 3

He had that painful, guilty feeling throbbing through his chest and pushing at his throat. His stomach felt all whirly and he was trying his best to convince himself that he did the right thing…or the thing best for him.

"It's not my fault the stupid midget has no place to stay! It's her fault for losing her stinking memories!" Ichigo stopped in mid-pace. The next sentence had been trying to force itself into his mouth for the last few minutes.

"I could have given her a place to stay."

A fresh wave of guilt churned in his stomach. He felt terrible, like the devil himself. That girl was surely a witch. Her wishing him to drown in his conscious was her spell and she activated it as soon as she rushed out that door.

Ichigo snorted. Was he for real? He didn't have anything to feel guilty about! He was just doing what he had to do.

"What am I doing? I'm not her dad! Not her brother! What the hell am I feeling guilty about?"

All of his words were being contradicted in his head.

"_So what if you're neither her brother nor her father? She's a human being without any knowledge of the place she's in or any money! There is no one with enough of a heart to look after her and you know it! __**She'd die and you'll go to hell!**__"_

He couldn't help but shudder as his conscious sinisterly whispered the last words in his mind. He soon snorted and chuckled them off.

"I need a drink." he thought as he opened a cupboard just above his head and took out a dark-coloured bottle. Pulling the cork out of its mouth, he set his butt on a chair and lifted the bottle to his mouth.

Nothing.

He gazed inquiringly at the bottle before shaking it. He heard the liquor crash softly on the glass.

"Strange."

Turning the bottle upside-down, he gave it a few solid shakes. Although the liquid splashed around, nothing fell from its open mouth.

In a final attempt to prove his sanity to himself, he lifted the bottle to his eye and peered into its dark mouth. Before he could see a thing, dozens of small, frozen spiders crawled out and onto his face.

He dropped the bottle and it instantly broke as it made contact with the floor. Instead of shattering into shards, it seemed to denature and turn into a large, frozen spire.

"Holy shit!" he shrieked as he fell in shock. He had only seconds before beaten the spiders off his face.

He felt his fingers grasp something cold and he turned to see the spiders forcing themselves under his fingernails and crawling up his arm, layering his skin in a thin sheet of frost. A scream found its way out of his throat as he desperately tried to beat them off.

In a mad attempt to escape, he wildly crawled to the other side of the room and out of the clutter of frozen arachnids.

His back slammed into the wall and he took a few shaky breaths while looking in horrified shock at the other side of the room. The spiders had crawled up the wall and changed into ice, leaving messages scratched into it.

"**GO DIE ICHIGO!"**

"**Burn in HELL, Ichigo!"**

"**Ichigo, you're a demon."**

"**Karma exists for people like you, Ichigo…"**

"**I'd come back to haunt you one day, Ichigo and then, I'll never leave you alone…"**

"OH FUCK!" he screeched as he bolted straight out the door in search of the woman who rushed out earlier.

-O-

"The stupid asshole!"

Another trashcan was heard clattering to the ground.

"Ichigo, you're a stupid demon!" Rukia screamed as she kicked a crate. She snapped her foot back in pain.

"Oh crud!" she hollered as she dropped to her knees and began nursing her injured foot.

"This is the stupid idiot's fault!" she muttered angrily under her breath as she blinked away the tears pooling in the corner of her eyes. "Oh Footie, are you okay?"

After patting her foot and thumping it gently on the ground a few times, she decided her foot was fine. She sat in silence in the dirt for a few moments before sighing loudly

"What the hell am I supposed to do now?" she asked herself softly. Although she didn't remember where she came from, she knew it was nothing like this. This place made her feel misplaced and she knew she was.

People she tried to talk to on the streets all seemed like Ichigo's sister; soulless.

They all acted without a mind and just seemed to be on autopilot. It freaked her the hell out.

She was snapped out of her thoughts by the organized shuffling of feet. They were so synchronized that it couldn't possible not be programmed. She peeked out of the alley and her eyes widened slightly.

There seemed to be an infinite line of void people heading in one direction. Each person held a spoon and bowl in their hand. Her eyes lit up as she saw these apparatuses. The use of them meant only one thing- food.

The raven-haired girl wasn't hungry. Even she knew that she wasn't but would blame her behavior on the fact that she didn't know the next time she would see the thing called food.

She walked out of the alley and grabbed a bowl on spoon from a stall holding stacks of them. Trying to imitate the hollow's behavior, she slipped into the line as inconspicuously as possible. She was refusing to think that they weren't going for food.

She patiently waited as the line took its precious time to crawl to its destination. She could barely make out a large table on the side-walk far in front of her. Two figures were standing near a large pot of something that was on the table. As she got closer, could've seen a spoonful of a mushy substance being slapped into the bowls of the hollows before her.

"Next!" a short, chubby man shrieked each time he threw some mush into someone's bowl. A taller man was ticking something off a list every time the short man's voice was heard. The two gentlemen both didn't seem like hollows.

"This should be the last of the laborers, boss." said the tall one as Rukia stood before the two. "I don't know where this girl came from."

The short one leaned forward in his chair and studied her face with an almost constipated-look on his face. Rukia tried the best not to laugh, staying still and unblinking.

"Let's just give her the food. Probably her master was just too weak and she was drawn by our magic." he stated as he fell back into his chair and spooned some mush into her bowl.

"Shouldn't we try to find her master if that's the case?" the next asked nervously. The other snorted.

"Why? I bet he won't even notice her gone. Besides, there is so many of these mindless freaks. While getting them all free, why would he worry about this one hollow?" he declared somewhat amused.

"Well…sure boss." the tall one agreed unsurely.

"And plus…she's kinda cute and that guy was looking for some call-girls, wasn't he? If we don't sell her to him, we could use her for our own…erm…recreational purposes." fatty said suggestively.

"WHAT! YOU NASTY SON OF A B-"

Rukia caught herself a second too late and she hastily covered her mouth with her palms.

"Boss, she's a whole." the tall one announced.

-O-

"Wait. Mister, why did she call them nasty?" Ivy asked innocently out of pure curiosity. She stretched her hand out before her feeling her tired muscles pull.

Our narrator looked from the sky and considered the question for a second.

"Well…have your friends ever made you be the seeker in 'Hide n' Go Seek' and you didn't want to do it?" he asked.

"I don't have any friends except you but my sister did."

"Well, it's kinda like that but she didn't want to play so much that she called them nasty." he lied lamely. Ivy thought about his answer for a second before accepting it.

"Oh…" she said as if she grasped his concept. "Please continue."

-O-

The bigger male grabbed her hand before she could make her escape. He looked back at his boss.

"I've never seen you around…" his bossed said after a long time of thinking. His face was uncomfortably close to hers. "What's your name?"

"Nanance Yui." she lied sharply. Shorty rubbed his greasy chin.

"Never heard of you. Are you not a registered whole?"

"And…?" she asked.

He leaned back and balanced his chair on their back legs.

"Well…that's rare. Are you a foreigner?"

She quickly thought up a tale to tell.

"Yes, I was traveling from my home country and was attacked by bandits. They took all my money and threw me in a river. When I awoke I had no idea where I was and wondered in hunger for a few days. Now I'm here." she mumbled sadly with fake tears welling at the corners of her eyes.

The short guy was moved to tears and quickly offered her to stay at his place.

"Are you mad? After you say all that perverted shit!" she snapped as she pulled her arm for the under-man's hands. "I'd rather die, seriously!"

With that she stomped angrily away secretly letting out a thankful breath. As she was turning a corner, her head snapped back to their location and she stomped back to the table. She grabbed her bowl and stuck her spoon the thick mush. She brought the spoon in her mouth and nearly threw-up. It tasted worse than dirt.

"Hey, hollows eat anything." the short one said defending the food. Rukia looked up at him in disgust before dropping the bowl and storming angrily away…again.

"Nasty assholes!" she spat as soon as she was out of hearing distance. She put her hand under her chin as she tried to imitate the fatty.

"Never heard of you before!" she said in a fail imitation voice. "Are you a registered whole?"

She snorted and kicked a stone in her path. It went flying and smashed into a wall.

"What the hell is a whole? Do you need a license to think or something? That's bull!"

Suddenly, a small object was seen whirling through the air. Rukia shielded her eyes to look at it.

And it got bigger.

And bigger.

And bigger until…

**SMACK!**

She instantly hit the ground and stopped moving.

"Oh crap!" someone screamed as they ran towards her. "I'm so sorry! Are you okay?"

Rukia blinked a few times and touched her forehead. It was starting to swell.

"I'm so sorry!" the person cried again as they helped Rukia stand.

"It's okay." she said a bit shaky as she felt her head go repeatedly light then heavy.

She took a few wobbly steps before falling straight on her face.

"Oh shit! Oh shit! Dad! Dad! HELP!"

-O-

Rojuro looked down from the sky and at his listener. She was long pas listening and her head was low and bobbing.

"Hey, hey." he whispered as he shook her foot.

"I wasn't sleeping." she mumbled sleepily without looking up. "They were attacked be dragons and…"

He shook her again and her eyes snapped open. She looked around frantically for a second.

"Go home, Ivy. It's late." he ordered gently.

"But…but...you haven't finished your story!" she whined tiredly. Here eyes started to close again.

He shook her and without a word, she quickly stood and began walking down the slope. After a few steps she stopped and leaned on a tree.

"IVY!" he snapped. She jumped awake.

"Go home." He ordered.

She turned to nod then slowly continued her walk home.

He leaned back on a tree and chuckled.

"What a strange kid."

-O  
*looks at the clock* 12:20 am

Hi. Thanks everyone who has taken the time to review my story so far. All of them were appreciated and please feel free to do so again.

Yeah...speaking of reviews...it would be deeply appreciated if those who haven't written one just drop one by...hehe.


	4. Chapter 4

"So would the solider ever find her and finally be nice to her?" Ivy asked as she lay in the cool grass. Near her foot was a clear bag of scraps and gravy. She set her elbows down on the grass and propped her chin up to look at Rojuro

"I have no idea." he answered, raising his eyes towards the sky. "Shall we find out?"

-O-

"Rukia of the…"

She didn't hear the last word. Her eyes darted wildly around the foreign room she was in. Although foreign, this place seemed like a place she should know. She felt a bubble of anger in her stomach and was quite surprised at the feeling.

In the room, there stood long, red pillars that seemed to stretch infinitely into the darkness above her. Somewhere in the middle of each was a groove which each sat one of seven figures in dark red hoods. In the middle of the room was an enormous red sphere that seemed to be floating. There seemed to be constant movement in the sphere and it almost seemed to be alive but she couldn't tell for sure.

Her attention was pulled towards the low sound of something heavy and metallic being dragged. She tried to locate the cause of the sound in the dark shadows of the hall. Her breath stuck in her throat when she finally saw it.

"Keep your filthy hands off of me!"

The woman looked exactly like her. There were only a few differences but the girl was definitely her. She had pale blue skin and lavender hair that shone white. Her eyes were sharp and also a pale lavender colour. Aside from that, she looked identical to Rukia. Two extremely large steel balls were chained the battered woman's ankles.

Two red monsters held her arms and were practically dragging her up the hall. The creatures sneered at her demands. She was not a person who had patience with being ignored. Her dirty, shackled hands slowly rose to present them both with her middle fingers.

One of the beasts showed its low tolerance level by smacking her across the face. The sound was heard echoing loudly throughout the room. The woman's face was turned from the force but she didn't stumble from the lash.

She slowly turned to show the three deep, long, bloody gashes the blow dealt to her face.

"Bitch, you'd pay for that." she growled before being shoved forward towards the sphere.

"Rukia of the…" the voice said again. "One count murder, one count attempt murder-"

"Bullshit!" she screeched angrily. She seemed desperate to get something to throw at the sphere.

"SILENCE!" the voice ordered. The temperature in the room rose drastically.

Her head dropped between her shoulders and she began rapidly muttering something.

"What are you saying, woman?"

She lifted her face to look at the sphere. Her glare seemed capable of freezing your soul.

She looked directly across the room at the next Rukia. The amnesia victim jumped in fright. Her copy's eyes softened and she smiled. Her eyes snapped back to sphere.

"May Tazen's fate be your fate, may his death be your death. May the curse of Tazen rest on you and your children."

-O-

"I think she's coming to."

At first, all Rukia could see was bright light. Then, she could make out two mushy black spots that started to focus to look more and more like heads.

She clenched her eyes down tightly before opening them.

"Hey, how are you feeling?"

Rukia blinked again and looked up into a pair of large dark eyes.

A small scream pushed from her throat as she gave the stranger an accidental forehead slam.

"Oh shit!" the person groaned as they nursed the injured spot.

"I'm so sorry!" Rukia gasped as she got up and knelt near the person. The person looked up at her with one eye badly blackened. The stranger was apparently female with short, black hair. She gave a boyish vibe and didn't seem any older than thirteen.

"It's okay." the girl said with a shaky smile on her face. "Sorry for hitting you with my bat."

"Bat?" Rukia said in confusion.

"Well…I was playing baseball and I swung the bat a bit too...hehe…" she scratched the back of her head sheepishly.

Rukia chuckled. "It's no big deal."

The tomboy stood and helped Rukia to do the same.

"My name is Karin, by the way. What's yours?"

She quickly contemplated on whether to lie to the girl or not. She decided not to.

"I'm Rukia."

Karin gave her a big grin. "Nice to meet you."

Rukia looked around the room. It was long and plain with beds placed evenly in rows.

There was a curtain placed between each bed.

"Wasn't there someone else here?" she asked. Karin scratched her head.

"Well…probably my sister. She should be back to her normal elf by now."

Rukia looked questioningly at the tomboy.

"I'll tell you later." she said. "Come, let's go tell dad that you're awake."

Karin led the girl out of the room and to a small kitchen. In there sat a sophisticated looking adult. He was typing a letter and seemed to give a very responsible and important aura. He indeed looked very responsible in the way he concentrated on the task before him and important by the way he sat, the way his doctor's coat sat on his shoulders and the way his glasses shone. Truly a mature adu-

"KARIN! MY SWEET LIL' GIRL!" he squealed as he flung himself at his daughter. Karin absently punched him in the nose and sent him flying to the next side of the room.

"My dear Karin, how can you be so cruel?" he whimpered painfully from a crater in the wall with tears streaming down his face. He then spotted Rukia and began dancing happily around her.

"What's this?" he asked as he twirled around her. He looked at her the same way a child would look at his Christmas present; with curious excitement. Her eyes darted in attempt to keep up with his dancing figure. "A lovely daughter for me to add to my family?"

Rukia felt her head getting light and a strong urge to puke. With that she stopped trying to keep track of the man. He was making her dizzy. He suddenly stopped and grabbed her hands.

"Will you like to join my family?" he asked with an excitement filled voice.

The next moment, he was flying across the room and Karin was apologizing for her father's idiotic actions.

"No, it's alright." she assured the younger girl before looking at the older male. "Is it really alright if I stay here?"

His head poked out from the crater he was lying in.

"Is something wrong? Do you not have somewhere to stay?"

She then proceeded to tell them her sob story and bathe them in her teary lies. The man was brought to tears.

"Don't be a stranger, Rukia-chan! You're always welcomed here!" he cried. "Uncle Isshin would always be there for you! When you need warmth or food! Clothes or even shelter! I'd always be there! Be it rain or sunshine! Snow or hail…!"

"I'm sorry." Karin apologized blankly. "He may have slight pedophilic tendencies."

"I'd be sure to remember that." Rukia remarked with a thankful smile.

"How can my daughters speak about me like that?" Isshin whispered in frozen shock.

They ignored the idiot.

"Come, lemme show you around the clinic." Karin said, offering her hand to Rukia.

The girl accepted it and walked away with the tomboy.

-O-

Ichigo wasn't scared. Of course he wasn't scared! Why on earth would he be scared? He was just a bit paranoid by the fact something was out to kill him because he killed the dark-haired midget.

-O-

"What's the difference?" Ivy asked. Our narrator looked down from the sky and placed a finger on his lips.

-O-

"Where the hell did that damned lady go?" Ichigo growled as he failed once again failed to gather information on Rukia. In his rage he threw down a trashcan and stomped angrily away from the rubbish.

"Why the hell do I even have to go look for her? Why am I looking for her?" he shouted as he nearly trampled a cat. "I hardly even know the damn girl!"

Then all the strange happens flashed through his mind and he wordlessly continued searching for her.

He searched for her nonstop through the day and into the night. As the street lights began to blink on, he flopped wearily onto a flight of stairs.

Ichigo had to admit, having a conscious was a bitch. Every time the tiniest temptation of giving-up crept into his head, images of her being ignored and helplessly resorting into crawling up an alley and sleep in a damp corner drowned the temptations.

Suddenly, a dim light shone in his face and a concerned familiar voice was heard.

"Big brother?"

He looked up from the cracked concrete and offered a weary smile.

"Oh, hey Yuzu, I see you're back to normal."

She gave a smile.

"Yeah, going hollow like that without warning is sometimes rough but it's better than staying blank forever." she said in a cheerful voice.

"Well…that's just how being a vizard is." he replied absently. His mind had long drifted into places he thought his target might be. Yuzu looked worriedly at her older brother before clasping her hands together.

"Big brother, why don't you come have dinner with us?" she asked excitedly with a big smile plastered on her face.

"I'm sorry." he said he said as he stood up and dusted his pants. "I'm looking for someone."

Yuzu's face fell and she stared at the ground.

"Oh…well…good luck."

Ichigo bided her goodbye and continued his search. Yuzu watched her brother's back until it disappeared in disappointment. She sighed before walking a few doors down to her home.

"I'm back." she announced as she pushed open the door labeled 'Kurosaki'. "I'm sorry, Karin. I couldn't find your ball."

The said girl peeked from the living room to her unidentical twin.

"You didn't have to go searching for it." she said as she bit into an apple.

"But it was your favorite one!" Yuzu whined as she placed her hands on her hips. "And what have I told you about eating before dinner? Dinner is at six thirty and it is already twenty past six! Couldn't you have just a bit of patience?"

Karin mumbled an unconvincing apology.

Yuzu huffed and marched into the kitchen to set the table. Five minutes later she was calling the family to the table and exactly five minutes after they started to eat.

"Oh, wait." Karin said as she pushed out her chair. "Rukia, come get something to eat!"

A door slammed and someone was heard running down the stairs. Rukia slid into the room in a loose fitting top and shorts.

"I hope I didn't keep you waiting." she said as she took the last seat at the table.

"Nonsense dear," Isshin assured her as he passed her a bowl of salad. She accepted it and was just about to put some on her plate when she noticed the girl sitting opposite her.

"Have I met you before?"

"I don't believe we have met before."

Both blinked in confusion at the other's words. An awkward silence fell over the table.

"I'm sorry." Rukia said as she tried to fix the uncomfortable situation. "I'm probably mistaken. My name is Rukia."

Yuzu gave a bright smile. "My name is Kurosaki Yuzu."

"Yuzu, Rukia-chan would be staying with us from now onwards." Isshin spoke up.

"Oh, I see." Yuzu muttered as she gave the most cheerful smile she could muster. In truth, after the outburst, she wasn't so optimistic about the decision her father had made.

She tried to change the topic.

"By the way, dad, I saw big brother."

"Ichigo?" Isshin asked as his fork paused before his lips.

"Yeah, I invited him to come for dinner but-"

"He was too busy making my grandchildren?"

Rukia chocked on her glass of milk but the twins seemed accustomed to and unfazed by this sort of this.

"No." Yuzu muttered while gently shaking her head. "He seemed tired-"

"From trying to make my grandchildren?"

"-and he said he was looking for someone."

"A wife to make my grandchildren?"

Rukia listened in disturbed curiosity at the all but normal conversation. Every other sentence ended with the world grandchildren.

Suddenly, a though decided it was about time to ram into her brain. They were talking about a guy named Ichigo, right? If it's the Ichigo she knows, he's looking for her right?

She slapped the thought away. There was little to know chance that it was the same person. Even if it was Ichigo, he probably wasn't looking for her. But then again, if it was the same person that would explain Yuzu…

Her head shook violently. It couldn't be the same person! And even if it was…(insert smirk here) that bastard should suffer.

Several blocks away, Ichigo experienced a near-death moment.

_O_

*glances at the clock and groans*

I am so sorry for updating late. I have family over and they won't give me a break which resulted in me typing at ridiculous hours in the morning.

Please leave a review, I'd be very thankful for it.


	5. Chapter 5

She was obsessed. That alone was common knowledge throughout the house. This obsession was one that sometimes distracted her from mentally cursing Ichigo**. **It all started when she saw Yuzu's display of toys. There was dozens of them sitting in cramped positions on the dressing table. They were all unbelievably cute and fluffy. It sometimes would take hours to get Rukia to stop staring at the stuffed animals.

Yuzu hadn't played with these toys for a long time and they were covered in dust. Rukia would sometimes find herself trying to stop her nose from twitching as she tried cuddling with them. Yuzu sometimes caught Rukia in the act of sneaking a 'little' look at the plush toys and would sit with the older girl making up stories for each toy. This soon became Rukia's favorite past-time when Yuzu wasn't void. She liked all the toys but her absolute favorite was an old toy rabbit called Chappy.

Ichigo on the other hand wasn't having it so good. He had long abandoned the thought of sleeping in his own home; too dangerous. His best option was a run-down motel that couldn't care about the damage the place was dealt with his every step. It had been three whole shitty days since he started his search for the midget and seriously, he was on the brink of giving up and telling whatever the hell it was after his life to just kill him. He couldn't possibly care anymore but then again he did like his life.

One other reason he didn't want the thing to kill him was that he knew it wouldn't let him go painlessly. No, it was going to make sure that he had his extra share of pain before death. Cylinders of ice falling out of tap heads, frozen spires erupting randomly from the ground, cold voices talking near his ear and breathing their icy breaths down his shirt; that alone was enough to tell him that it was hell-bent on mentally scarring him before killing him.

The voices were really scary but the screams in the night and icy scratches in the wood of the door freaked him the hell out. There was so much hail that only seemed to surround him when he stepped outdoors and it never seemed to stop. He would have been a little bit comforted if it wasn't for the fact that it was the middle of summer.

-O-

"I haven't seen big brother around recently…" Yuzu whispered worriedly as she took a sud-covered plate from Rukia and rinsed it. Karin took the plate to dry and brushed of Yuzu's statement with a mere "mmmph..." She dumped it into the dish rack and turned to face her sister.

"I'm sure he's just fine."

"I don't know…" Yuzu said her voice filled with doubt. "I haven't heard from him either…What if he's in some kind of trouble?"

Karin sighed and wiped her hands on her shirt. "I'm sure Ichigo is alright."

Rukia stopped scrubbing as vigorously as she was to pay closer attention to the twins' conversation.

"I can't help but worry, Karin! He told me to stop bring food to his place… and he told me that through a note!" she cried as she turned to face her sister. "Something has to be wrong! What if he was kidnapped by an enemy country or something?"

Karin whistled and leaned on the wet sink. "If he's still looking for someone that person has to be mad important."

Rukia dumped her pot into Yuzu's basin, alerting the said girl.

"Karin! I'm serious! I'm scared for him. What if he ends up like back then? What if he gets all…?"

"If he gets all what?" Rukia asked. "Like how back then?"

The twins frowned and shared secretive glances before looking back at the older girl.

"I'm sorry Rukia-chan." Yuzu mumbled as she began rinsing the pot. "We just can't tell you."

Suddenly, Karin's hand shot out and grabbed her sister's wrist.

"Karin?" Yuzu asked looking over to her sister. Her breathing was labored and her eyes small. Sweat ran down her temples and down her neck. Her grip on her sister's hand tightened causing Yuzu to wince.

"Karin, what's wrong?"

The girl didn't answer. Her grip just kept getting tighter causing Yuzu's hand to get paler with each passing second. Yuzu pulled at her sister's hand in futility.

"Karin, stop!" Rukia shouted as her hand shot out to grab the younger girl's.

Karin hand snapped back to her side and she watched Rukia in rage and what seemed to be disgust.

"Don't touch me! What the hell are you? You're not human! You couldn't possibly be human!" Her fingers were shaking uncontrollably and they were wet with sweat. She clutched at her hair as if she was in pain.

"Karin?" Rukia asked as she took a step towards the girl. Karin jumped back and looked at the girl's outstretched hand with pure hate.

"Don't come near me! Don't touch me!" Her eyes snapped to the Rukia's wide ones. "You're the one causing my brother stress, aren't you? AREN'T YOU!"

"What? Karin, you have to calm do-" Rukia reached out towards the girl but her hand was scornfully slapped away.

"I SAID TO KEEP YOUR HANDS AWAY FROM ME!" Karin took a step back and hit the counter. She sank to the ground, pointing an accusing finger at Rukia.

Her voice came out shaky and barely over a whisper. "You don't know what I know…you don't know what I can tell…you don't know what he's been through…you don't know how fragile his mental health is… you got a home so you can just leave him alone! Why are you torturing him? Why? Do you even have a reason? Can't you just leave him alone…?"

Rukia took an unsure step towards the girl and immediately regretted it. Her fingertips tingled before going numb. She stumbled to her knees as electricity flowed through her body. Her blood seemed to stop pump through her veins. As the currents ended, she fell limply onto the floor.

"KARIN!" The said girl slowly stood and turned to face her horrified sister. "What did you just do?"

"I don't…I don't know…I just…lost it for a second…I don't know what came over me…I…ARGH!" She groaned loudly as she felt a painfully cold feeling crawl up her leg. Looking down, she saw Rukia's fingers curled tightly around her ankle. Ice was making its way from her pale skin onto Karin's legs and spilled onto the ground. It seemed to grow from that area on the kitchen floor, slowly filling every corner of the floor.

"Rukia-chan…?" Yuzu's shaky voice was barely above a whisper. She was trembling slightly and her eyes were wide with tears pooling at the bottom. Karin's body was glued to the floor and it wasn't by the ice on her legs but fear from the amount of power she felt. Her eyes were glued to the pale figure at her feet slowly raising her head to reveal her eyes. They were different, blue-purple trying to fight its way back to the surface of angered pale violet orbs.

"Rukia-chan…?" Yuzu's voice came again. She wasn't scared for the girl on the floor anymore but the girl who first snapped. Karin's fingers were sparking with electricity out of pure reflex but they were little threat to Rukia. She slowly kneeled before standing, all the while staring Karin in the eye. Her cold, pale hand lifted and came to rest on the girl's cheek. Karin felt frost inching from Rukia's fingers towards her eyes but she couldn't move out from the older girl's reach.

Karin was saved as Rukia's eyes flashed back to their original colour. She let out a weak groan before her eyes closed. She swayed a few times before her feet gave way beneath her. The ice in the room instantly disappeared as Rukia's body hit the ground.

"Wh-" Yuzu gasped before blue dust fell into her line of sight. Her head got unbelievably heavy and she slumped onto the counter.

Before Karin could say anything, she got the same treatment and she fell back. Her head hit the chest of the person responsible for the sudden want of sleep, her father. His hand was filled with blue sleeping dust and his face pulled tight into a serious frown.

"Karin, yes, she is torturing my son but she doesn't know." he softly said to his sleeping daughter. "But that doesn't give you every right to react like that."

He leaned on the counter and looked at Rukia.

"And yes, she doesn't know of his problems or the laws of this world. She hardly knows anything but we'll have to forgive her there." He sighed and looked down at the girl in his arms. "But we don't have time for her not knowing. Although we know she'll have the requirements we can't wait for them to play out on their own. For that I'll have her know before the end of the day." He stroked his daughter's hair affectionately. "So please don't freak out again. Do it for daddy, please?"

-O-

"I got the remote!" Karin shouted before getting tackled by Yuzu. The remote fell off the couch and both girls scrambled for it.

"Give it to me!"

"No way...Ouch!"

"Hey…stop that! That hurts!"

"And this doesn't?"

"Shut up and give it to me!"

Rukia walked into the room with a small, tired smile playing on her lips. She just felt so…exhausted. Her body felt sluggish and her memory felt a bit fuzzy. She could remember everything perfectly until ten minutes ago. There everything seems like blurry flashes of colour and unfocused light.

"Get off of me, Yuzu!"

"Give it to me first!"

She chuckled at the twins' foolish behavior before grabbing the spare remote and plopping down onto the couch and choosing a channel. The sisters' head perked up and they both groaned. Rukia just had to put on the lamest thing on television, didn't she?

"I guess Nee-chan wins." Karin stated with a disappointedly. Yuzu got off the floor and sat next to Rukia, ready to sleep through the whole corny cartoon.

After a quarter of an hour of watching the 'interesting' cartoon the twins felt their eyelids growing heavier from the 'captivating' nature of the show. Karin's head was bobbing and the world just seemed to get fuzzier and fuzzier and fuzzier…

"Oh crap!" she cried as she jumped awake. "I forgot to take out that bag of stuff from upstairs!"

Rukia looked over Yuzu and at Karin with mild interest.

"What bag of stuff?"

"Just some trash from when we were cleaning the rooms. I'd go take it out now." Karin said as she got up.

The words left Rukia's lips before she properly registered Karin's sentence.

"Don't worry, I'll get it."

The words didn't feel like her words. It was a strange feeling; the feeling of saying someone else's words.

She grabbed Karin's arm to pull herself up and as a result, Karin fell back onto the chair.

"No, wait! I can do it-"

"Nah, don't worry about it!" Rukia called as she ran up the stairs. "It's in the hallway, right?"

The last thing she saw was Karin take the remote and changed the channel.

Rukia's foot slammed into the last stair and onto hard, angular shaped object. She bit back a scream as pain pumped through her toes.

"Ow…" she gasped as she looked down at her toes. They were bright red.

After pulling herself up, she took her few steps to see if they hampered her walking. Although it was painful, she walked like normal.

"Now what the hell did I fall on?" she asked herself as she touched her face. There were bright red strangely shaped marks from what she fell on. Looking down, she saw an angular shaped garbage bag at her feet. It seemed to be filled to the point of bursting.

"This must be the trash…" she told herself as she poked it in an attempt to see what was on the inside.

Finally giving up on finding out what was possibly in the bag to make it shape like that, she grabbed it by the top and began to raise it from the floor.

"Why the hell is this thing so heavy?" she groaned as the bag lifted a few centimeters from the floor. She heard a ripping sound before feeling dirty objects fall onto her feet. She groaned as she stupidly tried to put the bag back together but obviously with no avail.

"They should've put them in boxes or at least two bags." she complained almost silently. She sighed and placed her hands on her hips. "I guess I just will have to pick them up." She quickly fetched two garbage bags and a broom to do the job. After a short while of sitting in the dust and throwing objects into the bags, her nose and skin started to itch.

A chain of sneezes erupted from her nose.

She stood and made a wild dash towards the bathroom. She didn't get to make it that far.

"A shit!" she cried before her face smashed into the floor. The marks on her face just got company. The floorboards made some decent red lines across her face. She looked accusingly at the object she tripped on, an old newspaper.

"Stupid shit." she cursed as she leaned back to pick it up. The colours on it were dull from age and the black ink looked gray. She growled as she moved to throw it into the open mouth of the garbage bag. She stopped in mid-throw and stared at one of the other items on the front page. Although it was only a glimpse, there wasn't much with that hair colour.

"Ichigo?" she muttered as she looked at the picture of a younger and cuter version of the male standing next to a dark haired boy. Both were wearing karate uniforms and grinning like idiots. After reading the caption, she found out that the picture showed the girl and boy regional karate champions and that the other 'boy' was indeed a girl.

"So he knows karate…" she murmured as she tossed the papers into the trash.

She absently picked up another newspaper from the floor and browsed the front page.

On it was a picture of Ichigo shaking the girl's hand. The caption read;

'_Stronger of the fighting prodigies is- Tatsuki Arisawa.'_

She read the interview below and couldn't help but chuckle. From the girl's best friend and opponent were the words;

'_I wasn't beaten by a girl! Don't say I was beaten by a girl! Tatsuki-chan isn't a girl! Tatsuki-chan is a monst- I mean Tatsuki-chan is Tatsuki-chan!'_

After reading the whole passage, she folded the paper into two and threw it into the bag. Genuinely interested now, she reached for another of the old newspapers. She felt the blood freeze in her fingertips as she read the headline.

"Dear God…"

The headline screamed the bad new in bold print.

'_Nine Year Old Female Karate Champion and 6 Others Killed in Fire.'_

In smaller letters below the headline were the words;

'_Jealous Parent Kills Herself After Killing 3 Children and Setting Fire.'_

She trembled as her eyes skimmed through the story. How could someone be that filled with jealousy to kill a child? Someone who hardly started their life but is eager to continue it? Her eyes landed on a bolded subtitle.

'_How Male Champion Takes It.'_

'_Nine year old Kurosaki Ichigo has been believed to have turned into a hollow from shock. It was later discovered that he doesn't respond to magic and so is not a hollow. Doctors believe…"_

Rukia felt her heart drop far into her stomach. Not only did this guy have a fucked up past, she also went through her day in pleasure knowing he was pulling his hair out looking for her.

"Hey...Nee-chan, do you need any help? I thought you were taking an awful long time to…" Karin stopped in mid-sentence and stared at Rukia. "Nee-chan, what are you doing on the floor?"

"Oh, hey Karin," Rukia said as she got up and hurried past the younger girl. "Can you put these in those bags for me? Thanks!"

Karin stared at the girl's back blankly before looking at the mess before her.

"Didn't I already pack these?"

-O-

Rukia mind was blank. Her body felt strangely numb. The world seemed to be a slow, colourless, soundless spinning ball of jumbled pictures. First she could see the wet concrete wall stretching from the colourless ground and curving above them. Then it was all that snow…no…hail falling from the sky on the outside somewhere. She wasn't quiet sure if they were inside someplace or under some huge concrete thing.

Her eyes traveled downwards to the male whose head was resting on her lap. His eyes were filled with tears and wide. He stared blankly into the other side of the room. His spiky hair was dripping with water and his hands sat in loose fists at her feet.

How did she end up in this situation again? She was too dazed to actually think back.

"Oh, that was it." she said softly to herself. "I remember now…"

-O-

_Her feet smacked into the wood of the stairs as she ran down it and towards the door. She quickly slid into her shoes and ran out of the door. From the corner of her eye, she saw Yuzu giving her an inquisitive look from the living room. She didn't bother turn back to explain to the girl but ran straight into the street._

_She paused in the middle of the street and her eyes darted quickly to both her possible routes. Trying to make up from the time she wasted while trying to choose a direction, she sprinted to the west, hoping that this was the right direction. She skidded to a stop as she noticed a large line of voids heading towards a stall. Perfect! This must be the right way._

_Quickly revising her steps in her head, she dashed to the direction of Ichigo's small house. Her arm was suddenly grabbed, causing her to hear the sound of her muscles pull._

_She was spun around to face her captor, the man she was searching for, Ichigo._

"_Rukia…?" he asked, his voice sounding hoarse._

"_Ichigo…" she murmured._

_He let go of her and studied her from top to bottom. His eyes were pulled back up to her head._

"_What happened to your face?" he asked while pointing to his own._

_Her hands were instantly on her face, feeling for any imperfections._

"_What's wrong with it?" she finally asked._

"_There is a whole bunch of weird lines…like you were practicing spells on your face or something." _

"_Oh, that must be the aftermath of my face hitting so many solid surfaces today." she admitted sheepishly. He didn't say anything. He just looked down at her with concerned eyes for a second._

"_Rukia…I was… erm…looking for you for a while now." he admitted._

"_I know." she said almost instantly._

_He looked at his feet as if in shame for a moment before looking at her. He didn't look her in the eyes but rather on her forehead._

"_We're you alright?" he asked. "I know it was rather selfish of me to kick you out and I got worried. Did you have a place to stay for the last few nights?"_

"_Yes, Ichigo, I'm fine." she said. "I was staying with your family."_

"_My family?" he asked._

"_Yeah…your family… I'm pretty sure that was them. Karin, Yuzu and Isshin, right?" _

_He nodded._

"_Erm…Ichigo, that's not what I wanted to talk to you about. I'm sorry for-" she stopped as she heard a small drop of frozen rain hit the ground. It was soon followed by many._

"_This again?" Ichigo growled in annoyance. He turned to the short girl next to him. "We have to get out of it…" _

_He __nearly__ gasped. Although he would've been reluctant to say it, he had to admit that she looked like an angel. Her dark, thick eyelashes rimmed her wide, blue-purple eyes as she gazed in wonder at the ice falling from the sky. Her white lips were pulled slightly apart on her pale skin giving her a look of awe. She turned her pale head towards him with a light blush tainting her cheeks. A small smile made its way to her lips causing the boy's heart to jump in his chest._

"_I don't know why but this seems so…good to me. It's making me feel so…fresh and light. It feels as if I belong here!" she whispered in her strong but gentle voice. Ichigo felt a blush creep onto his cheeks but he quickly shook it off._

"_That's nice and all," he said trying to make his voice sound strong. "But we have to get out of this shitty hail."_

"_Why?" she asked._

"_Well…its ice so it would eventually melt and leave us drenched and every time it's hailing around me, the hail has a tendency to get bigger quickly."_

_He grabbed her hand as he saw her hesitation to leave._

"_Ichigo!" she gasped as her cold wrist was held by his warm hand._

"_Follow me." he ordered as he took long strides away from where they stood. She had to struggle to keep up with them._

"_Slow down." she panted. He looked at her and smirked._

"_What's the matter with you, princess? Height keeping you back?" he teased. As soon as the words left his mouth he received a swift kick to the shin and she stomped away from him._

"_Wait! Do you even know where you're going?" he winced. She stopped and waited for him to catch up. A few moments later they were under someone's verandah waiting for the weather to calm. It started to hail heavier as soon as they found shelter._

"_What's the sense we get out of it?" Rukia said mostly to herself as she brushed the half melted ice off her shoulders. "We're already soaked!"_

_Ichigo grunted in reply. She sighed and turned to face him._

"_Ichigo, I'm sorry."_

_He turned inquiringly towards her. "For what?"_

_She scratched her hand nervously and shifted her weight. "For having you search for me. I kind of had a feeling that you were and when I confirmed it I was too angry to tell you to stop searching. It was kind of selfish of me, I know."_

_He shrugged and turned back to look at the weather. "That's cool. I was a jerk and I have to admit that if it was me I'd probably have done the same thing as you."_

_Turning back to face her, he saw she was still shifty and nervous._

"…_What's up with you?" he asked finally, getting somewhat annoyed with her nervousness._

"_Well…I…I just wanted to say that…I was sorry for what happened…I…"_

_She saw him raise a questioning brow._

"_I'm sorry about what happened to your best friend…I know it's-"_

"_What are talking about? What happened to him?"_

_She looked up from the ground and stared at him._

"_You mean her? I'm talking about Tatsuki. I know it has been a long time since that happened and-"_

_She stopped as she saw the look he was giving her._

"_Who the hell is Tatsuki?"_

_She was taken aback for a second but quickly recovered._

"_What do you mean who the hell is Tatsuki? _

"_I mean exactly what I say. You come here and open your mouth as if I know this person. So I'm asking it now, who's this 'Tatsuki' person?"_

_She looked at him as if he was crazy._

"_What the hell do __**you **__mean 'who the hell is Tatsuki'? She was your BEST friend!"_

"_My best friend? You alright, lady?" he asked as he turned from her and walked a little way from her. "I'm beginning to think that you have hit your head and you're not indeed fine. Ch! You come here talking about this person. Who the hell is Tats-" He stopped suddenly here and his face looked as if he had been punched in the stomach. _

"_Ichigo?" Rukia asked in concern as he stopped in mid-sentence. He didn't answer or turn to face her. He just stood there mumbling the name to himself._

"_Tatsuki…Tatsuki…Tatsuki…"_

"_Ichigo, are you alright?" Rukia tried again. _

_He slowly turned to face her. His eyes were wide from his sudden realization. Tears were welling at the bottom of them._

"_Rukia…" he said slowly, his voice cracking. "Tatsuki…she's dead, isn't she?"_

-O-

She looked down at the boy on her lap and passed her hand soothingly through his hair.

"That's how." she thought.

She stopped rubbing his hair as he suddenly sat up and stared her in the eye. His expression looked even more pained than before if possible.

"Ichigo…?" she said softly.

"My mother…" he said brokenly. She blinked in confusion.

"Momma…she's dead too isn't she?"

She mentally cursed.

Shit, this guy had a fucked up past.

_O_

_I am sooooo sorry for taking so long to put up this one sucky chapter. I really wanted to post it earlier but every time I tried to type it something went wrong. And my family won't stop calling me which is pretty annoying. Every two seconds my name is being called. The computer also kept shutting down before I saved making it extremely difficult for me to keep my cool. So...again I'm sorry._

_Please forgive me and send me review...please?_


	6. Chapter 6

It was hot. That much you could tell without opening your eyes. There was also a constant dripping sound. Each drip was followed with undeniable sizzling. There was hardly any space between the sounds and the constant, unbroken chain of echoes was a maddening rhythm.

Rukia's eyes fluttered open. There was steam rising into the air above her from red, hot glowing rocks but she couldn't feel the threat of the heat. It was like if she was present but not actually there; like a rare dream where you can actually feel. The air seemed to be waving with heat near the unhealthy yellow coloured walls of the cave.

She slowly sat up before staring wide-eyed at the scene before her. There was just so much…blood. As the blood sprayed from its owner's body, it landed on the walls and started to bubble from the heat. Blood splashed from one body and went right through her, landing as a bubble on the wall behind her.

There were those monsters again; those from her first dream. They seemed to be fighting, or more like slaughtering a group of people. They were desperately trying to hold of the beasts with their weapons but they were just too strong. Some of the people summoned strange magic through their blades but it was only strong enough to kill a few weaklings from the heard of monsters. Finally, the last head hit the ground announcing the monsters as the victors.

They didn't seem satisfied with just being victorious though. They began searching the area, looking for anything strange or out of place. Their eyes darted about the area and they snorted steam through their nostrils. Rukia's back hit the wall in an attempt to stay as far away from those creatures as possible and to her surprise, she fell right through it.

"Ugh!" she groaned as her head hit the ground. She slowly sat up and rubbed the sore area. Steam rose from the ground even more here than at her previous location. Through the steam, she faintly made out a blurry lump. She squinted in an attempt to make out what exactly was the lump. Her breath stuck in her throat when she saw them.

"Don't be foolish! You can't possibly expect me to leave you here!" her mirror copy snapped. Sweat ran in between her pale violet eyes and down her nose. She was kneeling next to a green eyed male with black hair and who somewhat resembled Ichigo. Both of them were wearing long, white robes with large collars. The inside of his was a deep green while hers a deep red.

"I'm not expecting you to agree but I expect you to comply." he said coolly. He looked up at her defiant face and snapped.

"Don't be ridiculous, Rukia! We can't allow them to catch both of us." His voice was filled with so much authority that the on looking Rukia flinched. The pale-haired Rukia's decision still didn't change. He sighed and his eyes softened as he looked sadly into her eyes. "Everyone is counting on us so don't give me that look and just go."

Water was pooling at the corners of Rukia's look-alike's eyes. Her finger curled around the earthen spire sticking out of the man's leg. It was almost twice as high as her and it was impossible to get him off of it. Her palms roamed over the rock and she rested her head on it, heaving a sigh. Her other hand reached for his shredded, bloody, useless right arm that lay limply on the floor next to him. She played with his bloody fingers before pressing his palm to her lips.

"I won't be able to forgive myself if you die alone, Kaien."

-O-

"Rukia-chan…Rukia-chan!"

Her eyes cracked open and the shaking of her shoulders halted. The first thing she saw was the lush green trees being beaten by grey rain. Her eyes slowly roamed the area, taking in the scenery of grey gravestones surrounded by dark green grass. A few feet away from each grave the equally grey walk started and stretched almost endlessly on. The sky was a deep, gloomy colour and thunder sounded every now and then.

After blinking a few times, she finally noticed Isshin standing a little way to her left.

"Oh, hello Uncle." she smiled. It was a big or happy smile; actually, it was one where the corners of her mouth only rose slightly.

"Come on, Rukia-chan. You should go home. This rain wouldn't let up for a while." he said gently. She looked up at the light blue umbrella he was holding over her head and shook her head with a small smile.

"I'm sorry but I can't leave yet. I feel that this is somehow my fault." she said softly as she looked past the man and at his son.

"_Actually, not somehow but is." _she thought sadly.

Ichigo was sitting motionlessly in the wet grass before a large, cold gravestone. He was staring blankly at the area before him with clouded eyes. The rain made his clothes cling to his body and his hair to his face. His body was in that exact place for over four hours and he didn't seem likely to move for a next few hours.

Isshin looked over his shoulder at his son and sighed. He knew he wouldn't get the girl to budge so he didn't try a second time.

"At least take the umbrella." he said as he offered her the handle. Her hand rose slightly before dropping.

"No, you need it, don't you?" she said with that small, sad smile.

Isshin didn't budge.

"Rukia, take the umbrella." he said firmly. She didn't argue back. Her fingers gripped the cold metal of the handle and she watched Isshin rush to his car. Her eyes followed him as he closed the door of the car and waved good-bye to her. She lifted her hand to return a sluggish wave as the car purred to life and he drove away. Her hand dropped as his car left her line of sight and she looked emptily at the last place she saw in red taillights.

She sighed and looked back over at Ichigo.

"_How much longer would he stay in that position?"_

"_Is it possible for a person to stay still for that long?"_

Every time she happened to glimpse that empty expression on his face she felt as if someone was repeatedly driving a scissors through her chest. Her hands started to tremble and her eyes got moist. She quickly blinked away any sensation of crying and stood.

Ichigo couldn't think properly right now. Hell, he could hardly even think at all!

For eight years- eight WHOLE years, two of his most important people were dead. He didn't get worried, he didn't ask questions, he didn't notice, HE DIDN'T EVEN REMEMBER THEM!

Suddenly remembering like that was like being punched in the gut by a person with an iron fist. It made him feel suddenly…empty. It felt like someone had ripped out his lungs and was just watched him struggle to breath. It seemed unbelievable to him.

They were dead.

They were dead.

They were-

His thoughts were interrupted by the thin, cold arms that wrapped around him from behind. He felt the rain stop beating against his face. A nearly flat torso pressed against his back and warm breaths hit his ear. He didn't ask questions or turn to face like her. They just stayed like that for what seemed to be forever. Their breathing was synchronized and his wet shirt got hers wet but she couldn't care. She just wanted him to stop looking so damn pathetic so that her breathing wouldn't feel so painful.

She looked down at the watery mud on her knees. She wanted to brush it off but yet she didn't want to disturb their position. Although it was selfish, she had to admit that in some corner of her heart she liked it. The thing that bothered her was the situation it had to occur in.

"You know…" a cracked, soft voice that pulled her out of her thoughts said. It frightened her but after a few minutes she was able to place it. It was the boy she was holding. His voice had gotten hoarse from sitting so long in the rain.

"You know…Mom would be the same thing as you are right now." He chuckled dryly here and shook his head gently. "But not Tatsuki, she would have probably would have punched me."

"_Really? Why?"_ she thought. Ichigo seemed to have read her mind.

"When we were younger," he started with a small, sad smile playing on his lips. "I always got picked on cause of my hair colour."

Rukia wondered what he was getting at but didn't voice the question.

"So she'd beat up the bullies then kick my ass cause I'd be crying." he explained. "She finally got me to enroll in her karate class and kicked my ass. Every time she did I'd cry and as soon as my mom came I'd cheer up instantly." He gave a weak laugh. "Man, I was such a baby!" He paused and looked down at the ground. "Then I'd quit karate and a few days later join again."

"Every time people picked on me and I was outnumbered, she'd help me kick ass. Sometimes we'd even get our asses kicked but it was kind of fun. She was kinda like…my guardian angel."

Rukia hated herself right now. She hated herself because she knew it was terrible to be feeling…envy right now. Her heart ached while he spoke with fondness about his deceased friend.

"I actually had a crush on her…"

She ignored the pain to the best of her ability and held the boy tighter. The brokenness of his voice informed her that he was crying. She didn't dare move to confirm it though. She dropped the umbrella and knelt there, rocking and cooing comfortingly to the boy. She closed her eyes and whispered anything she could've thought of.

"Don't worry. It'll be okay."

"Shh now… I'm here"

At one point she began singing in his ear. She wasn't a good singer and now that she thought about it, the idea sucked. She didn't know the words but if just came out of her mouth, like she knew it all her life.

Ichigo's shoulders stopped shaking and he sat still listening to her voice. He fingers reached up and touched the slender ones resting on his chest. Her eyes snapped open and her mouth slammed shut.

"Don't stop."

She didn't dare disobey. Her mouth opened and she let out her off-key notes of good intention. When the song was finally over, they sat there in silence.

"Your voice sucks." he finally said. Her lips instantly pulled down into a frown.

"…But I'm glad that you did sing." he finished. The corners of her mouth curved into a smile.

Ichigo sighed and looked into the sky.

"Tatsuki would've surely called me pathetic if she saw me right now." he said.

"You are pathetic." she pointed out.

He snorted weakly. "Well thank you Rukia."

"Anytime Ichigo." she shot back with half-hearted sarcasm.

There was a moment of silence but Rukia didn't let it last long.

"You wanna go home?"

"My place or dad's place?"

"Home, close place that's dry."

He snorted as he felt her stand. She nearly fell over due to the effects of sitting for so long. Ichigo didn't manage any better.

Since they were both already soaked, Rukia didn't bother use the umbrella. She just carried it under her arm. As they walked, she thought back to the events of the previous day. Ichigo apparently had amnesia that was triggered by her mentioning Tatsuki. After a few hours of shock, he persisted on seeing his mother's grave and today, to see Tatsuki's.

Ichigo stopped walking and looked back at the pondering girl. His features were still clouded but on a lighter level.

"What are you thinking about?" he asked in a low, cracked-up voice. She shook her head and he shrugged.

Strangely, although today would only be the fifth day that she knew the boy, it felt like so much more than that. Odd, wasn't it?

Their feet sluggishly came to a halt as they reached his place. They threw of their wet shoes and socks and left them on the 'welcome' mat outside.

"What am I to change into?" Rukia asked as she saw Ichigo start to strip in the middle of the hallway. He looked up at her and threw his wet shirt aside.

"I'd get you something." he said as he turned to do just so. "Grab some towels from the bathroom, won't you? There in the closet in there."

She nodded as she went to do as he said. Instead of going immediately back to Ichigo, she pealed her wet dress off of her skin and wrapped herself in a towel. She then went back to Ichigo and gave him his towel. He gave the towel she was wearing a weird look before handing over a t-shirt for her to wear.

"Go put it on." he said as he turned around.

"We can't just change idiot." she said bluntly. "We have to take a bath first."

"Then you go first."

"No, you go first."

After a miniature argument, she practically shoved him into the bathroom.

"Don't take too long!" she shouted before setting herself on the couch and towel drying her hair. She listened with half interest to the television and to the shower.

It was after half an hour that Rukia decided he was taking WAY too long. She was beginning to get uncomfortable with sitting around naked and banged on the bathroom door.

"Ichigo?" she called.

No answer. She tried again.

"Ichigo…?"

"…"

"Ichigo?"

"…"

She decided to check to see if he was alright and turned the knob. He coincidently didn't expect her to walk on him and left the door unlocked.

"Ichigo?" she called as she entered the steam filled room.

Getting no answer, she slowly walked towards the shower and drew back the curtains.

Ichigo, red faced, sweating and panting, was slouched in the corner of the tub. She blushed as she saw his naked body and tried her best to ignore his toned figure.

"Ichigo?" she called as she shook his shoulders trying to wake him up.

He was warm; fever warm.

"Ichigo!" she exclaimed, shaking him with more force. His eyes slowly cracked open.

"Rukia…" he moaned with a small feverish smile playing on his lips. Her face got hotter.

"Oh shit! You got a fever! Come on…get out of the tub…yeah, yeah…like that!"

She wrapped her arm around his waist and he leaned on her. Her eyes stayed on the ceiling as she led him to his room.

"Here, lie here." she ordered before he climbed into bed "I'm going to get you some meds." Several minutes later she came back with several bottles of medication in her hand. "Come, Ichigo. You got to take these."

He looked at her with half lidded eyes. He sat up and beckoned her to come closer. She sat next to him and began pouring the medication. Before she could finish, his lips pressed softly against hers. They were warm, soft and clumsy against her cold ones. She looked dazed when he broke it.

"Thanks for staying with me." he said in a slurry voice and with a small smile. Before she could say anything he fell down onto his pillow in a deep slumber. Rukia watched his sick face in shock for a moment before smiling.

It was after five days of hardly knowing this idiot that she admitted to herself that she had fallen for him.

_O_

_It is five thirty in the morning. I've been typing this since nine last night. I need to go sleep._

_This is the halfway point of the story. I really don't like this chapter though._

_Leave me a review telling me what you think please? _

_I think I'll be going to bed now...  
_


	7. Chapter 7

_His hand reached up and pushed a loose strand of hair behind her ear. Her eyes widened as she realized he was awake. They then softened and she looked down at him with a smile._

"_Good morning." she said brushing his feverish cheek. His temperature was lower than the day before. He groaned and turned his head, looking away from her._

"_When I'm better…I have to show you something, okay." he mumbled shyly._

_She blinked twice and tilted her head a little to the left. "What is it, Ichigo?"_

_He briefly looked up at her in embarrassment before turning his head and mumbling something under his breath._

"_What was that?"_

_He turned back to face her with a feverish face…or was that a blush? He clenched his lips together for a moment before speaking._

"_Nothing much really…I just want to show my thanks, that's all…"_

_To his embarrassment, she just stared at him for a moment. Finally, her mouth curved into a smile and she stroked his cheek._

"_Okay."_

-O-

"Ichigo! Where are we going?"

He looked over his shoulder and at the girl whose hand he was holding. To her annoyance, he offered her only a mysterious grin.

"You'll see." he answered in a tone that seduced her mind to ask even more question. Her lips quivered with her want to pry further.

A huffed left her as she allowed herself to get pulled up after him. She slid down the brown rock a few times before being successfully hauled up by Ichigo. For a moment, she just stood on the top of that rock, squinting up at the rest of their climb. Wiping the sweat from her brow, she turned to look at the world around them.

Below her lay the city, a lone palace standing above the other buildings. Trees got more common towards the edge of the city until it was just lush greenery. Her view of the world below her was obstructed by the brown rocks that lay a long way below and above her. Some of the rocks were soft and ready to crumble while others were just as firm as their jagged shapes suggested. Looking up, she couldn't see their destination, just the clear, blue sky above the light brown rocks.

"Hey shorty, hurry up!"

She turned towards her amber eyed climbing partner and placed her hands firmly on her hips.

"I. AM. NOT. SHORT." she said in a low deadly voice. He turned away from her with a chuckle.

"Yeah, yeah, yeah…whatever helps you sleep at night." Ichigo said under his breath.

He immediately received a swift kick to the butt and she stomped ahead.

After regaining his composure, he quickly climbed up next to her.

"Damn evil midget."

"What was that?"

"I was saying that you're a damn evil girl who always overkills!"

"Overkill? I do not!"

"Yes you do!"

"Then you look for the overkill!"

"Do not!"

"Do too!"

"Do not!"

"Do too!"

Ichigo let out a frustrated sigh and climbed ahead of her.

"Okay, okay! You don't! Sheesh! Just shut up!"

She looked at him like if he told her to slap his ass.

"Shut up? I am not shutting up and you don't tell me what to do! For that I'll never shut up…"

Her voice trailed off as she felt her breath stick in her throat. Her heartbeat slowed drastically and her eyes widened considerably. Ichigo looked back at her with a smirk.

Were those smirks always that sexy? She doesn't believe she noticed them this much before. His eyes strangely seemed to seduce every part of her body without him even trying. Those lips of his caught most of her attention around his white teeth with such emphasized canines.

"Yeah midget that shut you up, didn't it?" he asked triumphantly. Hell, his voice sounded too good. It was just a pure turn on!

"It's…it's…it's amazing." Rukia managed to say breathlessly.

With that smirk still playing on his lips, he turned to watch 'it'.

"I know…I love it here too."

Before them lay ruins of what seemed to be a temple. The light brown ground was broken and uneven with strange patterns on them. To the back of the area was a cave nearly concealed by exotic flowers. A little before the cave was a small, shallow pool filled with the cleanest, stillest, bluest, clearest water imaginable. An altar with strange carvings stood proudly on a rock in the centre if the pool.

This place didn't seem real; her being her and seeing it felt like a dream. It seemed like at any moment Indians would come rushing from the bushes and begin some sort of ceremony.

"Come, follow me." Ichigo said softly as he took her by the wrist. She didn't even think about resisting but kept her eyes locked on the scenery. He led her around the pool and into the cave.

The cave gave of a slightly sweet scent. The rock in there had a dull green glow to it. Above them were crystals that caused this effect. The cave was rather wide but pretty shallow. Right to the back of the cave was a shrine. It was a dull reddish-brown colour and gave off a glow of its own.

"What is this place?" Rukia asked when she finally gained back her voice.

"Truth be told, nobody really knows." Ichigo admitted. "It was just here since anyone could really remember. "

She slowly brushed her fingertips against the wall closest to her.

"This place seems so…magical." she gasped.

"It probably is too." he smirked.

She gently pulled away from his grasp and slowly absorbed the area. Her fingers browsed every corner and her eyes slowly memorized every edge. As she arrived at the shrine, her hand reached hesitantly at it, wondering if it was alright to touch it. She looked back at her companion and he nodded encouragingly. Still filled with doubt, she looked back at the structure made of rock. Her fingers inched closer to it until they unintentionally stopped right before the rock.

Her breath hitched as she felt something pulse through her body. She felt blood pushing at her fingertips, trying to find a way to escape her. Her head went light and a bit of saliva ran down the corner of her mouth. Images of steaming caves and wavy air flashed through her head. Dripping lava and desperate voices sounded through her ears and bounced on the walls of her mind. Pleading green eyes stared into begging pale violet ones and…

"Hey Rukia, are you okay?" Ichigo called worriedly, snapping her back to reality.

"Yeah, I'm fine." she lied as she snapped her hand back to her side. It then moved upwards to wipe the drool from the corner of her lips. He didn't look convinced.

"Are you s-"

"Hey Ichigo, dance with me."

His head jerked in confusion.

"Huh?"

"You deaf now?" she turned to face him with a grin plastered on her face. "Dance with me." The grin she was wearing seemed contagious and caused his heart to involuntarily jump in his chest. Her reddened cheeks contrasted against her pale face and her long, dark eyelashes stuck together. Pale lips were parted and her hand was extended towards him.

"Are you dumb or something? Answer me, idiot!"

Her voice brought him back from his trance.

"I don't dance." he said firmly as he crossed his arms over his chest. The only fault in the firm stance was the fact that the tips of his ears were a deep red. She didn't miss that.

"Just say you don't know how to dance."

The blush crawled down to his cheeks proving that she hit the mark. His blush became bolder as she grabbed his left hand and placed it on her waist.

"Rukia, I-" he stuttered nervously,

"Shut up. Stuttering doesn't suit you." she sighed as she placed her hand on his shoulder and grabbed his right hand. She looked up at his face and giggled. He opened his mouth to retort but his mouth instantly clammed shut as she began to move.

To him, Rukia calling the ruins amazing was a mistake. To her, they were just little insignificant stones. **She **looked amazing and not those crappy pieces of rock.

Her hair flowed with her every step and her lips parted into an absent smile. Her enhancing blue- nearly purple eyes glistened in amusement. She was clearly enjoying herself and forgot about him a long time ago. Her movements were swift and he struggled to match her skilled pace.

Unknown to her, each of her steps froze up to four inches around them. Snow began to fall down from the roof of the cave. They floated and danced towards the ground. For some reason they just seemed to keep getting redder and redder and brighter and brighter until they were…

Ashes? Ashes falling from the sky?

Rukia's eyes darted as she tried to find her dancing partner. Instead of him she found herself in a smoky, burning, wooden building. The flames jumped threateningly at her but she couldn't feel the danger of them.

"_**Thousands of flowers and thousands of words…"**_

Her head jerked towards the sound.

"_**Left unsaid to my darling rose…"**_

She took off in the direction of the voice.

"_**Give me protection and I'll give you my love…"**_

She knew this song…

"_**When your heart is unready I'll give you my words…"**_

…this was the song she sang to Ichigo!

Her feet skidded to a stop on the hot wood and she could hear her heartbeat slow. The scene was too deep to take in at once.

"_**I'll wipe your sweat and pick you a rose…"**_

Several dirty, bony children were huddled in the only damp corner of the room in a desperate attempt to avoid the flames. They were all keeping their eyes down, looking at anything but the cherry of the room.

"_**I'd put it to your heart and give you a smile…"**_

A dirty girl with raven black hair sat in the middle of the room. Her head was bowed as she looked down into the bloody face of her brown haired friend. His breathing was labored and his eyes dim. A long piece of rusty metallic pipe was sticking out of his chest. The girl's mouth moved as she looked gently into his eyes. Her fingers caressed his cheeks as she sung him his last song.

"_**Our hearts would flicker and collide…"**_

Feet pounded on the burning floorboards of the hall. Next thing Rukia knew a tin boy with long, red hair was standing next to her. He stayed there silently on looking.

"_**They'd shine and flutter into the sky…"**_

The dying boy coughed and sharply inhaled. The breath came out slow and final; his last breath.

"_**And they'd fly away in joy."**_

A pregnant silence filled the room.

"R-" the boy with blood coloured hair started.

"Renji, he's dead."

The girl looked up at the boy. Rukia saw she had a bang falling between her teary, deep, blue-purple eyes- HER blue-purple eyes.

Her younger copy and the boy stared at each other for a few painful moments before the boy finally broke the silence.

"I know."

-O-

"…Rukia! Rukia!"

Her eyes slowly fluttered open and she gazed up into concerned, amber eyes.

"Ichigo?" she answered weakly.

His worrying didn't let up one bit. He immediately shot her a question.

"Are you okay?"

Her eyes snapped alert and her fingers reached up to touch the white substance around his temple- ice.

"Are YOU okay?" she asked pulling up from his warm strong arms. She looked around the cave. It was frozen solid.

"What happened?" she asked.

He gave the room a one over.

"Snow started to fall out of nowhere and next thing I knew, you had gone limp. The place just started to freeze after that."

She looked at him in disbelief.

"The place just started to-?"

She was cut off by hundreds of feet echoing through out the cave. Before they could think, a mob of mindless soldiers were pointing weapons at them.

A young man with a shining bald head and small eyes stepped from the mass of people. He lazily eyed the confused individuals and yawned. In one swift movement, he lifted a shiny, sharp spear and pointed it at them.

"Ikkaku, what are y-?" Ichigo started before being cut off by the man.

"You two are under arrest. Let's go- now!"

"Ikkaku, I don't understand." Ichigo said.

"What? You stupid are something." the man called Ikkaku snapped impatiently. "You two are under arrest so get up a let's go."

_O_

_Ha! Done before 1 am!_

_I'm really stupid. Saturday I hurt both my feet and today, when my feet are better, I knocked one of my toes and now I'm limping again. :(_

_Anyway, I hope you enjoyed the chapter and please leave me a review. Please?  
_


	8. Chapter 8

"Ichigo, I still think we should have ran." Rukia said as she balanced the rusty chair she was sitting on using its front legs. Ichigo leaned on the wall of the cell opposite hers and sighed.

"I already told you didn't I, midget? This could all just be a big misunderstanding and if it was we could get time just for running." he explained.

"I don't know, Ichigo." she said as she looked up at the dim light bulb at the top of her small, musty confinement. "I have a strong feeling in my gut."

"A strong feeling in your gut about what?" he asked.

"That something is going to go terribly wrong."

He rolled his eyes even though she couldn't see it. "Stop worrying you damned midget. Nothing is going to go wrong!" he said with careless confidence.

Rukia looked over at the wall separating them doubtfully. "Are you sure?"

"Damn it, Rukia! Of course, I'm s-" he stopped suddenly here and cursed loudly.

"What? What's wrong, Ichigo?" she asked worriedly.

"Well…you see…it's uh…"

"It's what?"

"Well…you're a Whole and well…you ain't registered and that's a kinda big problem. Higher-ups pay special attention to Wholes." Ichigo grumbled almost inaudibly. He sensed her confusion through the wall and so continued to explain.

"A Whole is a person like you, Karin, Dad and me. Our hearts are strong enough to handle our own minds. After that there are Vizards. They're pretty hard to come across and the government pays special attention to them. They're people with flickering strength of heart and so switch from Whole to Hollow. These people usually are sent to infiltrate other kingdoms and gather information. By switching from a Hollow to Whole, they forget everything that happened while they were Whole and blend in perfectly. Yuzu is an example of this."

Ichigo took a deep breath before continuing.

"Lastly, there are people called Hollows. You usually see them on the streets just walking and they don't react to anything. Their hearts are not strong enough for them to handle their own minds."

As Ichigo finished, a thick silence filled the area. He shifted uncomfortably and was about to speak but Rukia beat him to it.

"So technically, this is pretty much my fault."

Her voice came out soft and filled with guilt. Gosh, she sounded as if she wanted to kill herself.

"Wait, R-"

"And you and your family will get in trouble for sheltering me, right?" she whispered.

"No, Rukia. That's not it."

"Don't lie to me Ichigo." she said softly, her voice breaking. "It's my fault and I'm so sorry."

"No, Rukia. I-"

"Now I know why you were so determined on kicking me out of your house when we first met and I selfishly-"

"RUKIA SHUT THE HELL UP SO I CAN SAY WHAT I HAVE TO SAY!"

She looked from the ground and at the wall between them. Through the wall she heard the short tempered male sigh and change his position on the wall.

"I was determined to get you out of my house because I was being a bastard. My family took care of you because they're good people who wanted to take care of you and I kept you with me after because…well…you're kinda cool and I…I kinda like you."

Rukia felt her cheeks heat up.

"My point is!" he said a little too loudly from embarrassment. He quickly lowered his voice. "My point is…we chose to let you stay with us. It's not your fault because you simply didn't know. Now stop selfishly blaming yourself! You're making me seem like I didn't do anything and it's kind of cocky."

She stared at the wall in shock before blinking twice.

"But you didn't do anything." she blurted out.

"Rukia! Just shut the hell up and drop it!"

She looked down at her lap with a small smile playing on her lips and a light blush on her cheeks.

"Ichigo…" she murmured.

"Hm?" he answered as he shifted on the wall. She pressed her lips together before speaking.

"Thank you."

There was a brief pause where Ichigo fought the blush coming up on his face. "You're welcomed."

A warm silence filled the room and Ichigo felt his ears getting warmer with each passing second. Rukia didn't seem at all uncomfortable with the lack of noise and so made no attempt to break it. They both looked up as they heard a door creak open and armor clanking towards them. A huge man with armor from head to toe stood before them. Rukia swore she saw brown fur sticking out in some places.

"The council may see you now." he said in a low voice that almost sounded like a growl. He unlocked their cells and placed cuffs on their wrists.

Rukia looked nervously at Ichigo and he mustered a small, reassuring smile. Her cheeks flushed and she looked at the floor before following their escort.

He led them down rows of dirty cells and up into a long, brightly lit hall. After a forever and a half of walking down the impossibly long hallway, they finally got to a large door. It was pushed open fairly easy for its size and inside was…a ridiculously large and bright room. A long table hovered on a platform above them. Sitting at the table were twelve very different people and an empty space.

Rukia took this time to study the strangers. At the head of the table sat an old and rather muscular man with a long beard and squinty eyes. Next to him was a busty strawberry-blonde woman who was idly playing with her hair. As she noticed Ichigo in the room she blew him a kiss at which Rukia cringed at.

Next to the woman was a tall, skinny, creepy looking guy with a smile that strangely resembled a fox. He had silver hair and his eyes were narrowed until you couldn't see what colour they were. His smile grew as he saw Rukia and she found herself trembling.

Opposite to him was a man with long, brown hair and was draped over the table as if loosing to a hangover. He had a lazy, perverted smile on his face.

She didn't have time study the other eight people. The busty woman had begun complaining loudly.

"I'm tired of waiting~!" she whined as she tossed her hair behind her back. "Let's just start without him!"

"Matsumoto!" someone snapped from the other end of the table." You know we have to wait so just do it quietly." The speaker was short with white hair. He'd seem younger if it wasn't for the amount of maturity that he held in his sharp teal eyes.

Rukia glanced at Ichigo. He looked at her from the corner of his eye before leaning towards her.

"They're the Royal Council. If a royal family existed, it would've been them but there isn't. So instead, one member from each of the thirteen noble families is elected to be part of the council." he explained.

She nodded and looked back at the nobles. The 'Matsumoto' chick was now in a one sided argument with the white haired kid. He was screaming at her from the other side of the table while she studied her nails.

"Both of you be quiet. You're hurting my ears." a light, voice filled with authority barked. Looking over you'd see a small woman with short black hair.

"Soi Fong is right." The old man groaned. "Both of you be quiet and let's start without 'him'"

The table suddenly fell silent and everyone turned their attention to the two on trial. Some eyes showed interest, some boredom and others duty.

"Kurosaki Ichigo." boomed the head of the table. "It has been brought to our attention that you have en housing a foreigner illegally and is a Whole above all else. Do you have anything to say for yourself?"

Ichigo bowed and took a step forward.

"Yes sir, I do. This girl can remember nothing of where she came from and knows nothing of where she is. Although she was a foreign Whole, it would've been a sin to leave her on her own."

"And you didn't report her?" the stern voice of Soi Fong interjected. "Anything out of the ordinary such as **her…"** She gave Rukia a cold, hard glare here before looking back at Ichigo. "…should be reported."

"My apologize." Ichigo mumbled as he bowed. Matsumoto rolled her eyes as she played with her long hair.

"It's too late to be sorry now." she groaned, slumping lazily in her seat. "Your sexy piece of ass is wasted! I'm sure you'd get the death penalty." She looked back at the old guy. "He'd be hanged wouldn't he, Commander?"

Ichigo looked over at the Commander with a straight face but his eyes were pleading.

"Yes, that's right. He'd get some type of death penalty."

"NO!" Rukia screeched as she rushed to stand in front of Ichigo. Everyone's eyes widened.

"Ruki-"

"You can't kill Ichigo! He didn't do anything wrong! I'm the one who forced him to stay, I swear! I forced him to do it! It's not his fault!"

"Woman, know your place." the white haired boy spat coldly.

"And besides," Soi Fong stated in boredom. "You should just drop the 'I-Can't-Remember' bullshit. I could tell you're not a Vizard so I'd be more than happy to show you to my private torture room. You do look like the type of person to scream and I'd love to hear you scream the names of who sent you."

"No!" Ichigo interjected desperately. "She really doesn't-"

All sound suddenly drained from the room as the large, white doors slowly creaked open.

Leisurely footsteps echoed loudly throughout the area.

"Byakuya, you're late." Soi Fong barked.

A dark haired teenager looked up at her with cold, hard gray eyes before making his way to his seat. After making himself comfortable, he pulled out a book and began to read.

"You brat!" a bad-assed looking male growled. He had black, spiky hair and a tattoo of the number sixty-nine on his left cheek.

"Just leave him, Hisagi." Matsumoto said carelessly. "The brat won't change."

"Who are you calling brat, hag?" Byakuya said coldly from behind his book.

"Damn you…" Matsumoto growled half-way standing and ready to pounce on his ass. The creepy guy held her arm to restrain her.

"Let me go, Gin!"

"No can do, Rangiku." he said calmly without loosing his grin. "You for one should know you won't accomplish anything from hitting the brat." Rangiku huffed before sitting back down. She opened her mouth to say something but decided against it with a glance from the old guy. She murmured a low apology.

"Because of the lack of the restraint you both displayed," he said gruffly as he looked back towards Ichigo and Rukia. "you both will be further punished by the use of 'Article Six'."

Byakuya looked up from his book.

"'Article Six'?" he asked. "Isn't that a bit too much? What did they do?"

Rangiku rolled her eyes.

"Well, if you came earlier you would've known. They-"

"Oh hell." Byakuya interrupted her rudely and sarcastically "You're telling me? I think I'd rather not know."

Again, Matsumoto tried to strangle him and again Gin held her back.

Byakuya soon lost interest in the woman and began studying the two on trial. He looked first at the tall male. To him, the man just looked like an orange-haired idiot. He probably was just one of those overreacting, attention-hungry, short tempered males who can't resist the urge to do reckless, stupid things.

He turned his attention to the girl; black hair, purple-blue eyes, small and unnaturally pale. She didn't look too unreasonable and she's most likely an unregistered foreigner running from poverty. Most likely didn't mean any harm or is any danger at all. She did look a lot like-

Byakuya stopped as he felt someone trying to pry into his mind. His eyes slowly scanned the room to see who it was. He stopped at the hung-over brown haired man who was draped over the table. He smiled lazily up at Byakuya. Byakuya glared at him before turning away.

"You," he said interrupting the discussion that had started (again). "Do I know you?"

All the other nobles turned to face the teen.

"Yeah brat, you know Ichigo." Rangiku spoke up. "He's the 'Stupid Kurosaki Boy' you cut the pay of last week."

"No, not that fool!" he growled. "The short woman." Rukia pointed to herself. "Yes, you!"

"I don't think you do, sir. Or at least I don't remember…" she answered slowly. His hard stare on her didn't let up. It was making her feel awfully uncomfortable. Everyone else in the room stared curiously at them.

He suddenly stopped and began flipping through the book in front of him. He stopped abruptly and turned the book to face everyone else.

"It's the temples at the outskirts." He explained as he pointed to a crudely drawn picture that strangely resembled Rukia. "The text below translates '_Priestess of Sacrifice who _would_ once again in times of need'_."

All the nobles' stares turned blank.

"And…what's your point?" Soi Fong spoke up.

"I'm saying she could be the priestess." Byakuya said in an 'are-you-stupid?' voice.

"I have to admit that they do look alike." The white haired boy said. "But there are people who look identical in this world."

"And your point, Toshiro?" Byakuya asked coolly.

"We can't base this trial on some stupid picture." Toshiro answered just as coolly.

There was a brief tense silence.

Byakuya sighed. "Fine."

"Fine?" everyone asked, surprised that he didn't push it further.

"Yeah, I'll just adopt her so that none of you could lay a hand on her." he said as if simply stating the weather.

There was a small, shocked quiet moment before chaos erupted.

"Are you crazy!" someone screamed from the bottom of the table.

"No, no I am not." He replied coldly.

"Are you out of your mind, brat?"

"Do you seriously like to make hell that much?"

"Don't be that spoiled!"

In the midst of this, Rukia felt a smile tugging at the corners of her lips. She turned to Ichigo who offered her a small, sad smile.

"What the hell are you looking so down about?" she whispered loudly in excitement. "We're getting out!"

"No, I didn't agree to do anything about the idiot." Byakuya interrupted bluntly. "As far as I'm concerned, he should just go die already."

Rukia's face fell. "Excuse me, sir?"

"You heard me; he's still going to die. Your crime wasn't erased; you were just placed above it."

Her eyes clenched down tightly as her knees hit the ground and her head soon after.

She opened her eyes to stare at the ground between her nose and her knees.

"I'm sorry sir but please just leave me die."

Byakuya gave the girl's pleading stance a cold one-over. He sighed and turned his head to the side.

"Fine, I'd save the idiot."

"Thank you sir." She said raising her head and giving Ichigo a thumbs-up. In front of them almost all of the nobles were trying to shout over each other and at Byakuya. He only opened his book and continued reading.

_O_

_Ah...sorry this is late. I wanted to post this yesterday but..._

_Anyway, please leave me a review. Please?  
_


	9. Chapter 9

They were standing in front of his door. Her hands were stretching the material of his shirt and seriously, he didn't mind. He didn't care if she stretched all of his shirts, as long as she was close to him. She rested her forehead on his muscular chest and continued to whine like a little child.

"Ichigo! I don't care what I have to do! Please…just please let me stay...its unfair! It's just not fair!"

The boy tried to pry her hands off of him. He was unsuccessful for two reasons, firstly, he wasn't trying hard enough and secondly, getting her hands off would mean tearing piece of his shirt off.

"Calm down, Rukia." he sighed. "I'm going back to work this week so you'd see me around there."

She looked sadly up at him. "Promise?"  
"Yeah yeah, I promise."

He mentally admitted that he missed the pull as she unwillingly loosened her grip on his shirt.

She looked back over at the suitcase resting on the welcome mat then up at the door.

Her fingers reached out and took a handful of his shirt again. He obediently followed as she dragged him into his house. She stopped in the living room and sighed. Her hand rested on the couch and she sighed.

_-O-_

"_Hey, Ichigo, I don't feel too good." Rukia mumbled weakly as she slowly opened his bedroom door. He looked up from his book and at her over his reading glasses._

"_What's wrong?" he asked as he took off his glasses and made his way over to her._

_She clutched her stomach and groaned. "My stomach __**really**__ hurts."_

_From pure instinct, he took a step back._

"_Do you feel to puke?"_

"_No."_

"_Do you need to use the bathroom?"_

"_I think I would've done that if that was the case."_

"_Is it __**that **__time?"_

"_No Ichigo."_

"_Then what is it?"_

_She groaned and crouched close to the ground. He followed suit._

"_I was on the couch and rolled over. Something was on the table there and it smelled __**really**__ funny. When I saw it my head started to spin and my stomach hurt. ARGH!"_

_She pressed her head against her knees as she groaned._

_He raised an eyebrow in confusion._

"_Are you sure?" he asked._

"_Uhuh…"_

_He stood up and stepped over her as to go check out what she was talking about. As soon as he stepped out of the room he heard the door slam and the lock click._

"_Rukia!"_

"_Asshole! Girls aren't supposed to be sleeping on couches!" her strong voice barked from the other side of the door._

"_Rukia, come on!"_

"_Goodnight Ichigo."_

"_No, Rukia no!"_

_-O-_

Things like that had a habit of leaving a very triumphant feeling in people. A small smile found its way onto her lips and her grip on Ichigo's shirt tightened. She pulled him into 'her' room and looked around it.

"I'm going to miss this place." she sighed before pulling him into the next room. The next thing that was heard was a loud splash.

"RUKIA!" Ichigo cried as he lifted his wet hand. The fabric of his shirt was being pulled down by the water. The said girl was having a giggle fit next to him in the tub.

"What the hell is wrong with you?" he growled. She continued to laugh.

"What? Did you think I'd go all emotional on you?" she chuckled.

Her hair stuck to her face and her eyes clenched tightly together as she laughed. Water dripped from her hair, down her face and near her opened mouth. Her thin shirt stuck to her torso showing her light blue bra. His face heated as he saw it.

"Pervert." she teased as she stuck out her tongue at him.

"Am not!" he said in defense.

"Yeah right." she snorted. She pressed her back to the wall and lifted her hands over her head. Her shirt raised a little and she gave him a seductive smirk. His face got even redder.

"See! See! You're a perv!"

"Am not!" he barked closing his eyes and snapping his head to look away from her.

There was a silent moment. Ichigo relaxed and rest his head on the back of the tub, tilting it to look out the door instead at the person in the tub with him.

He looked back at her as he heard stirring in the water.

The girl was unbelievable close to him and closing in.

A"R-Rukia, what are you do-?" he stuttered. He immediately stopped as her arms wrapped around his shoulders.

"Idiot, stuttering doesn't suit you."

Neither could deny the strong emotion that flowed through her voice. It made his chest ache and his eyes darken with sadness.

He wanted to tell her to stay with him and not go live as a noble but instead-

"Rukia, I'm going to miss you."

He knew whispering something like that wasn't good enough but still her lips pulled into a small smile.

"I'm going to miss you too." she sighed. He pulled her down into his chest and snuggled his nose into her hair. He silently inhaled her scent. God! He loved it! It was so intoxicating. He felt his mind going all fuzzy as he inhaled her. A warm tingling feeling was in his chest and he didn't bother ignore it. It was proving something to him.

"Rukia, I-"

A loud honking noise stopped him in mid-sentence. Their heads snapped to the direction of the sound and he mentally cursed.

"They're here to pick me up." Rukia whispered.

Ichigo nodded.

"Let's ignore them for a while." she said softly.

YES!

"No, we shouldn't"

She looked up at him and sighed. She could see how much he wanted to do what she said or at least she hoped he did.

He stood and helped her out of the tub. He took up a towel and handed it to her.

"What were you saying before?" she asked as she accepted it.

"Nothing." he lied as he took a towel and walked out of the room.

She looked at his retreating figure in confusion before proceeding to dry up.

Quarter of an hour later Ichigo was dragging her suitcase down the stairs. It hit the pavement at the bottom.

"See you," she said as she gave him a hug. "Miss you till then."

"Yeah, I'd miss you too."

She waved at him as she climbed into the vehicle and the chauffeur closed the door. And again, his heart clenched painfully. His eyes got dark and had a far-away look.

"Yeah…you'd miss me but my missing is deeper…"

"What was that, Ichigo?

"Oh shit!" Ichigo exclaimed, nearly falling over as he took a step back. Redness erupted all over his face. "You're supposed to be in the car!"

Rukia looked over her shoulder and at the car.

"Yeah, but I have something to give you." she admitted.

"What?"

She pulled him down to her height and instructed him to close his eyes. She took his hand and pressed an object into it.

"What is it?" he asked, cracking open his eye. He was just in time to see the short girl leaning in closer to him. Her lips pressed onto his cheeks. To him, it felt unbelievably soft and although cold, made him feel so warm.

It only lasted for a moment; she broke it before he could even think about it. Her face flushed and she brought her hand shyly to her lips.

"I didn't tell you to open your eyes yet." she mumbled before rushing to the vehicle.

He stood rooted to the ground where she left him. His eyes watching the vehicle as it speeded off. As soon as it was out of site he gently shook his head to get out of his trance.

He looked down at the brooch she had given him. It wasn't anything fancy; made out of a pin and bottle cap that she had painted. He looked at the simple thing in mild shock before smiling and pocketing it.

-O-

Rukia looked out her window at the moonlit garden below. She looked straight out of a fairytale; lying on cushions with a leg and hand dangling out of the window and moonlight shining on her face. She was dressed in a long pale pink kimono that was held loosely onto her slim body by its sash.

Her room was located at the top of a tower with ivy climbing up its stones. Below it were gardens with koi filled ponds and small bridges. Her room itself wasn't at all shabby. Pale blue curtains hung in front of the windows of stained glass. An unnecessarily big bed with drapes and nets lay in the middle of the carpeted floor. A walking closet was on one side of the room and the other side was a door to her bathroom. There were other things but she didn't pay too much attention to them.

This place was perfectly lovely but she didn't feel at all comfortable here. The spacey rooms seemed so suffocating to her. Barely been here and she knew that the Whole servants hated her. They always sucked-up to her face but as soon as they thought she was gone they began to speak.

"Why do you think he took her in?"

"She's so dirty!"

"I think she's carrying the master's child."

"Ha! She's a damn gold-digger!"

Damn it, she was taken as his sister, not his wife for Pete's sake.

Oh, and the clothes she brought with her? She only managed to save two pieces when she arrived. Almost all her belongs were thrown out as they were 'tainted'.

Tainted, what hell was that supposed to mean?

"Rukia-sama, your bath is ready."

She jumped at the gentle voice. Turning, she saw her servant; a girl around her age with straight burnt-orange hair and large grey eyes.

"Oh, thank you, Orihime."

"You don't have to thank me Rukia-sama. It's my job."

This servant was one of the few nice wholes serving at the estate. She was apparently orphaned at a young age. In an attempt to save them both, her older brother begged for a job on the estate, As Orihime grew older, she also began to work. Soon after her brother died from sickness and she's been working here ever since.

"Nonsense, if I thanked you then you deserved the thanks." Rukia said as she stood up.

"My deepest apologize." the servant whimpered with a bow.

"Don't apologize." Rukia said as gently as she could manage. Truth be told, it was all Rukia could do to not scream at the girl. Orihime was sweet but timid and if possible, too nice. You'd think that as a whole she'd be a bit…stronger. The girl could hardly speak to anyone without wanting to run away.

Without another word, Rukia walked into the bathroom. During her time her she was told to 'dantify' her walk. She was even giver 'teachers' to help her perfect it and other things nobles had to do.

As she set herself in the petal scented water, her mind drifted to places she wanted to be. She'd have loved to be at the Kurosaki clinic watching Yuzu cook or helping Karin find her shoes. Maybe even helping Isshin sew up a patient or just watching television.

Or possibly she wanted to be on a corner street in a small room of a stone house. Possibly rolling over and raising the covers to reveal a tan, athletic, naked, orange haired male beside her. He'd smile up at her and proceed to press kisses on her soft, milky…

Rukia shook the thought out of her head with a blush. How could she be thinking of the idiot like **that**!

Sure, he was sexy and she did…love him but that didn't give her a reason to have erotic thoughts about him!

She shifted her position in the water and propped her legs up on the ledge of the tub. She missed him and she couldn't deny it. Yeah, he'd be back to his job in a few days but this week without him was almost unbearable.

Leaning back against the wall she sighed.

"Ichigo, I wonder what you're doing…"

-O-

Ichigo passed his hand through his hair as he rummaged through his fridge. He grabbed a bowl nearly at the back of the fridge and plopped down on a chair. He proceeded to grab a fork and stab a tomato in the bowl. Just before it entered his mouth he paused.

He felt a hot, irritated feeling go through his chest and pulse through his body. His teeth clenched painfully together and a vain popped up on his forehead. In one swift movement he sent the bowl flying across the room. A crash resounded throughout the room before glass shards and lettuce fell to the ground.

A scream was trying to force its way out of his throat. He grabbed his hair and smashed his head into the table. He suddenly felt like going all 'Hulk' and grabbed the edge of the small table. He stood and turned in a fail attempt to throw the piece of furniture.

It was proven a fail attempt because he miraculously tripped and hit the floor. The table crashed into his jaw soon later.

"Oh shit!" he cursed as he grabbed his jaw and rolled in pain.

"That's what you get for suddenly trying to do something stupid." someone chirped from the window. His eyes widened as he rolled over to confirm who was there

Short dark hair and large, amused violet-blue eyes. Mouth pulled into a smirk and pale cheeks reflecting moonlight. The amnesia victim, assumed priestess and the cause of all his frustration, Rukia.

"Did you miss me so much that you flipped out?" she asked provocatively.

"Shut up. Of course I didn't." he hissed as he sat up. She stared at him.

"I think you lost a tooth there, buddy." she said as she pointed to his bleeding mouth.

He mumbled a few cursed and put his hand on the bleeding area. A bright light came from his fingertips and the next moment he was running his tongue along his new tooth.

She stared at him in amazement.

"What?" he asked looking up at her.

"Nothing, it's just 'that'…" she pointed to her own teeth. "I kind of think it amazing."

"It's just magic." he said in a bit of embarrassment. "You could do some pretty cool stuff too."

"Like what?" she asked as she slid gently down from the window sill.

"Like that time where you controlled my body. And I'm pretty sure that you could use snow and ice magic too." he pointed out.

"What makes you think that?" she asked, her eyebrow shooting up.

"Well…when you were mad at me a set of things pertaining to ice happened. It snowed and hailed in weird places and at weird times. And also, when I met you the ground around you was frozen solid." he pointed out.

She looked at him and tried to shrug indifferently.

"I just thought them all strange coincidences." she admitted.

"Coincidences aren't that strange." he pointed out.

Rukia's eyes widened as she felt something click in the back of her mind. The room started to get larger and brighter. The temperature dropped drastically. The next thing that she knew that she was in a garden filled with curious plants. Everything seemed so much bigger than her and it was all made of ice.

A threatening wind blew past her coating everything in another layer of ice. She couldn't feel it as dangerous as it was supposed to be. It almost seemed…inviting.

Not knowing what to do, she began walking forward. The snow rose above her knees and it was almost impossible to move.

"Ichigo, you here?" she called as she pushed snow away from her legs. After succeeding to move a few yards she collapsed. To move through the cold substance was nearly impossible.

She dragged herself up and began moving forward again but stopped as she heard voices. She probably wouldn't have stopped if they were just voices but they seemed to come from above here. Looking up she saw two gigantic figures standing on air.

"I know why you're here." a soft, gentle, feminine voice sounded. "You want to offer me a place."

The person next to the woman looked down and Rukia recognized herself immediately. It wasn't herself with the white tinted hair and pale eyes but herself as she looked right now.

"Was that your home before?" Rukia's duplicate asked as she pointed to the garden below.

"Yes." the other woman replied. "Those barbarians invaded it and made sure I couldn't return to it." At this point she flicked back her white hair and sighed. "I can't live for long out of there and so I'd eventually die in this environment."

"Then why don't you stay with me." Rukia's copy offered. "I bring forth the power of ice so my soul should have the right environment for you to reside in."

There was a pause and the white haired woman chuckled bitterly.

"You should make that offer to Tazen and not to me." she said softly.

"Sode no Shirayuki, if I could have I'd have done that a long time ago and save you from being in this situation in the first place. A stronger mage would offer Tazen a place but right now I'm offering you one." Rukia's duplicate said sternly. "Take it or leave it."

Sode no Shirayuki looked at the girl in disbelief before smiling and touching her shoulder. A bright light was seen then just the duplicate. Her hair was now had the white shine to it and her eyes a pale violet. The girl winced and touched her chest.

"I heard having two souls would hurt but I didn't think it would be this heavy…"

-O-

She opened her eyes to see the ceiling fan. With a groan she tried to sit up. Her back was aching.

"Rukia, you're awake!"

She looked over to see Ichigo's tall figure coming towards her with a bowl. She again tried to sit up and again failed.

"My back's killing me!" she growled.

"No surprise. You bended into really funny positions while you were throwing up." He said with a sigh.

"Throwing up?" she asked in disbelief. Her eyes were glued to the large bowl in Ichigo's hands. "You mean…"

He looked down at the bowl and caught on immediately.

"Oh yeah, I just emptied it." he said as he rested the bowl down.

She groaned and rolled over on the couch.

"Great way to look sexy, Rukia." she said mentally. "I bet he'd ALWAYS look back fondly on THAT one…"

"Well…due to what was in the bowl I suspect you were just being a glut." he said indifferently.

"Me? Being a glut?" she exclaimed. "Byakuya's damned servants deemed me 'too thin' and rammed food down my damn throat!"

Ichigo stared at her before snickering.

"I would love to see what they do to you when they deem you 'too plump'."

She glared daggers at him. She couldn't just get why she loved this annoying asshole.

"What?"

Oh shit. Did she just say that out loud?

"Oh…um…Ichigo, I could ah…explain…"

Her heart was hammering violently against her chest as she awaited any kind of reaction from him. Damn, she hated suspense! He was just there staring at her in wide eyed shock.

"…and Charlie just couldn't handle it and…"

What?

Who the fuck was Charlie?

Had hanging around him raised her stupidity level so much?  
Ichigo continued to stare at her before turning his head to the side and mumbling something to himself.

Rukia's heart dropped.

He really just didn't see her that way at all, did he? He's trying to soften the blow, isn't he?

A chuckle sounded throughout the tense room.

Her pupils shrunk to dots in her wide eyes.

How stupid was she for worrying? He just took it as some joke.

Her vision clouded with tears.

Some joke, huh?

Was that really all she was? Some joke? That's all he thought her to be? Some stupid person who he had taken care of for kicks?

Damn him! He's an asshole! What the hell was she doing holding feelings for him in the first place?

"You know what? Shit on this." she mumbled to herself as she got up and pushed past him. The only interference in this was that he was a big oaf that a person her height couldn't push past. His strong, muscular, tanned arms shot out and pulled her into his tanned chest. His hot breath on her neck was probably also an interference.

"Ichigo…?" she gasped with a hot blush already creeping onto her teary cheeks.

"I'm glad."

"Huh?"

His arms tightened around her petite figure.

"I said that I'm glad." he whispered into her ear. "I'm glad that you and I have the same feelings towards each other. I'm glad that you stepped into my life. I'm glad that you make me feel at ease and I'm glad…I'm glad if you'd be my girl."

Something in her chest sprang out and hit the moon. She grabbed his head and pulled him into a soft, clumsy but passionate kiss. After she broke it she paused and looked him tenderly in the eye.

"Of course I'd be your girl."

A soft smile broke onto his face and he leaned in for another kiss. This one was hungrier and more ferocious than the one before. It didn't take much for her knees to start buckling and him to start clawing at their clothes.

-O-

Her eyes fluttered open and she slowly studied the room she was in; his room. She rolled over and raised the covers revealing her athletic, tanned, naked boyfriend. He offered her a sleepy-eyed smile before softly pressing kisses on the soft, milky skin of her back.

_0_

_YES! YES! I AM BACK!..._

_and have a math exam tomorrow. :( I hate exams._

_Did anyone miss me? _

_*crickets chirp*_

_Aww...well please leave me a review. It would be deeply appreciated.  
_


	10. Chapter 10

A giggle bubbled from her throat as Ichigo pulled her onto the last rock of their ascent. Her foot pushed a few loose pebbles tumbling down towards the city.

"Byakuya is going to be sooo pissed." Rukia giggled.

"I don't know how the hell you could laugh at that." Ichigo murmured gravely. "Last time you sneaked out he nearly killed me. He's going to boil my ass!"

The only sympathy offered to him was her tongue stretching tauntingly out at him.

"Put that back!" he ordered.

"Or what would you do? Cut it off?" she asked with a smirk.

"How are you so sure I won't?" he snapped back.

She smirked and pulled him down so she could wrap her arms around his shoulders.

"We both know you won't do that." she whispered into his ear. She flicked her tongue along his earlobe. "You like the feeling it brings **too** much."

She pulled back and smirked as she saw his cherry-red face.

"See!" she laughed.

"Sh-shut up midget." he stuttered.

"Make me, strawberry." she provoked him.

He groaned before turning to face their destination. He couldn't help that his breath slowed and so did seem the world as he absorbed the sight of the ruins. No matter how many times he saw them he couldn't help but be speechlessly amazed.

Rukia was in the same dazed state beside him. When he finally broke out of his trance, he felt for her hand and pulled her along the grounds.

"Do you know that this water has healing properties?" Ichigo asked as they halted next to the pool with the pillar in it.

"Really?" she asked in amazement and excitement. She brought her finger to her mouth and bit down on it…hard.

"Uh…Rukia…no…eesh…stop…"

She smirked up at him before kneeling and placing her wounded finger near the water. She gasped as the water seemed to jump towards her finger. The water finally splashed on it and the wound closed up instantly. As soon as there was nothing left to heal, the water settled down again.

"You didn't have to do that..." he groaned.

"Yes, I'm a curious person so I had to." she answered in fake sweetness.

She leaned over the pool in curiosity.

"I wonder what would happen if I drink it…" she murmured to herself.

Leaning closer to the water, she put her hands in the shape of a cup and then- SPLASH!

"What the fucking hell was that for?" she screeched as soon as she was able to look up at him.

"Payback is a bitch, ain't it?" he smirked.

"Payback for what?" she practically screeched.

"For the tub thing." he answered bluntly.

She growled in frustration.

Getting out of the water, she proceeded to stomp angrily away.

"Rukia…aw…come on! You can't be serious!" Ichigo pathetically whined as he watched her retreating figure. She snapped her head back towards him, a cold, solid glare on her face.

"Take it off." she ordered.

"What?"

"Your clothes, asshole. I'm **not** walking around soaking wet so hurry and take them off."

He looked at her in disbelief.

"Rukia, you are not serious."

"No, Ichigo Kurosaki, you are not serious." she snapped. "Now take them off before I have to strip you."

"Well I'm sorry! You're just going to have to then."

A few minutes later, Rukia was happily rolling up the legs of Ichigo's pants and piercing a hole in his belt. He on the other hand was unwillingly standing half-naked and trying to come up with a plan to defend his shirt from her. She soon was contemplating over his shirt or vest. She tossed the latter back to him.

"Damned evil midget." he grumbled.

"Stupid strawberry." she countered with a smirk before skipping ahead of him. He mumbled a few curses as he fell into step beside her.

"Would you like to have my wet clothes to wear?" she asked in mock concern.

"Rather have a dog screw me in the ass." he mumbled sarcastically.

"I can have that arranged." she said leisurely as she widened the distance between them.

"No, no, no! I was only kidding." he blurted quickly. She giggled and skipped back to his side. She laughed loudly before grabbing his hand.

"Let's do what we came here to do."

He gave a slight nod before she pulled him into the cave.

"If what Byakuya claimed was true and the drawing in the book is from here," Ichigo said. "We might get clues to where you're from and how to restore your memories."

Rukia brushed her fingers against the paintings on the walls. They all were strangely captivating and familiar. At the top corner was a crudely drawn picture of a hooded figure fighting four figures three times his size. Next to that picture was another of the same hooded figure getting pierced in the side, then one of the figure hiding away, then one of him getting offered food…

"It's amazing that Byakuya could read this." she remarked. There were the most curious words written under each of the drawings. Some of the symbols were similar to those of this kingdom's but others were just all too different.

She stalled at the next drawing. One of the persons in the picture resembled her while the other had long, flowing, white hair. Her mind instantly snapped to her vision of the frozen garden. That picture was unmistakably a picture of her duplicate and the pale woman conversing.

"Rukia, you…" a soft voice whispered in her head.

As soon as it came, it was out of her mind. She shook her head gently and continued to through the cave art.

"Look here, I found it!"

She turned and went towards Ichigo.

"Right here." he said as he pointed to the desired picture. She studied it for a moment before looking at the caption below.

"Priestess of Sacrifice who would once again come in times of need." she recalled through memory.

Instantly, she felt her head go light before gaining tons. Before she could groan, the pain seemed to shoot through her skull and out through the roof.

"Rukia? Rukia, are you okay?" Ichigo asked as the girl's head dropped.

She looked up at him with large eyes.

"I remember."

"What?"

Her voice rose and her eyes narrowed dangerously.

"Did I stutter? I said I remember."

"What do you remember, Rukia?"

"I remember enough to know I've wasted too much time." she hissed as she pulled at her hair.

He blinked in confusion as she stalked madly around the cave.

"Time?" he repeated inquiringly.

"Yes, time damn it! Tazen can't be doing well! I've wasted a whole year!" she cursed.

"Year?" he asked. "You've only been here for a month!"

She looked at him angrily before her eyes softened.

"I can't be angry with you…" she muttered as she shook her head. "You don't know…you honestly don't know…"

"Rukia, am I allowed to know?"

She looked up at him with a sad smile.

"Ichigo, I…no…my people…we are slowly…" She took a deep breath here. "We are dying."

"Wait…what did you say?"

"You heard me, Ichigo. I'm going to die."

"But…but…why?" he asked, panic he didn't bother to disguise in his voice.

"Because of those **beasts.**" Her eyes darkened as she emphasised the word. "They destroyed the only thing we had in our world to support Tazen's existence. He would ultimately die without a place to reside and without him, we would cease to exist." she explained.

"Why would your existence cease?"

"Because Tazen is the one keeping our existences from the effects of many curses and with that, his life is our life." she clarified.

"But…but…"

He stopped as her calm face altered into a realization-struck, frightened one.

"Is there something else Rukia?"

"Byakuya…"

"What about him?"

She looked him in the eye.

"He knew this language, Ichigo." She pointed to the wall. "He could have translated it. Only a person from my home speaks this. Only a person from my world can travel through 'The Net'."

"'The Net'?" Ichigo repeated.

"Not important." she declared with a wave of her hand. "Right now that noble just better have me answers."

-O-

Byakuya sighed as he reached over to rest his book on his desk. He ran his hand through his hair before sighing once more.  
"You have some answers for me."

He snorted in the way only he knew how to do.

"I saved your life." he declared. "Show me some respect at least."

"Don't give me that bull!" she spat. "You know my language. How?"

"Hisana." was his calm reply.

"What?" she hissed.

"Your sister."

The next moment she was standing on his desk and holding him by his shirt's collar.

"Hisana is dead!" she barked. "You couldn't have met her!"

His eyes were coldly boring into hers.

"Let me go." he ordered.

"Or what? I'm the one calling the shots here."

"Let me correct you. You are not calling shots." he calmly replied. "You want my information and so you would have to let me go."

She growled before releasing him. He slowly fixed his position on his chair before speaking.

"How long have you known her to be dead?" he asked.

"Ten years in my time."

"No, eight in yours." he corrected. "Her body was never found so you presumed her dead."

"She was alive? Where?"

"Here, for two months." He took a deep breath and passed a hand through his hair. "We-"

-O-

Suddenly, Rojuro broke into a fit of rib-cracking coughs. Ivy jumped before rushing to his side.

"Mister! Are you alright?"

He stopped coughing long enough to give her a cold, hard stare. She visibly flinched.

"Get out of here!" he spat.

"Bu-but…" she stuttered but was cut off as he screamed at her.

"GET OUT OF HERE YOU DAMNED CHILD!"

She jumped to her feet his tears prickling at the corners of her mouth.

"Why?" she whispered.

"GO!"

She didn't waste any time to dash towards her home.

_0_

_I know it's short but...Ugh...I am so sick.(and have two exams tomorrow)_

_My friends forgot that a guy was telling a kid this story when they were reading it. Did you? Hope not.  
_

_Please send me a review telling me what you think. _


	11. Chapter 11

"Ivy, your home a good deal more now."

She looked up from the scrap of paper she was colouring to the twenty seven year old sitting near the stove.

"I could say the same for you, sis." Ivy answered as she continued to colour.

Her sister sighed, throwing her short brown hair from her face to reveal her dark eyes surrounded by black circles.

"I'm just not getting as much work as I used to be getting." she admitted as she pinched at a tear in her jeans. "But I have a client a little later today so it's going to be alright."

"Kristin…" Ivy spoke up. She took a deep breath before continuing "I think you should stop."

Kristin's eyes widened before she smiled and pushed her bony figure off the floor.

"Sweetie, I want to. I seriously do! But if I don't how are we going to eat? We won't be able to if I do." she said gently.

Ivy looked at her sister's tired, stressed figure before speaking again.

"Maybe I could also-"

She didn't get to the end of that statement. A loud smacking sound was heard as Kristin's hand collided with Ivy's cheek.

"DON'T EVEN SAY IT!"

Ivy looked up at her sister with tears prickling at the bottom of her eyes.

"Kristin…"

She was already kneeling next to Ivy and trying to comfort the crying girl.

"I'm sorry Ivy. I shouldn't have hit you. I'm so sorry…"

Ivy hiccuped before opening her mouth again.

"Kristin, why can't I help?"

"Ivy…it's not as simple as that." Kristin admitted. "The world is a…an unfair place. Such a sweet person like you shouldn't have to be experiencing it from my angle. Not yet at least."

Ivy pulled away from her sister's embrace and dried her eyes.

"But sissy, I **want** to help."

Kristin smoothed down the younger girl's hair before smiling.

"Sweetie, but you already are. Just stay the same sweet person that you are and continue…" Kristine paused and looked at the half coloured drawing at her knees. "….colouring."

With that she kissed Ivy's forehead and stood.

"I'm sorry baby. I have to go to work now."

And with that, Kristine was out the rotting door again. Ivy stayed on the ground longer, taking in everything around her slowly in. Everything in this crumbling house was things the person she called her sister worked desperately for. The three pieces of crayons at her feet were the rewards of Kristine digging elbow deep in trash cans. The land they illegally legally owned was Kristine's reward from years of squatting. Everything in here was things Kristine worked for. Ivy herself did nothing and used everything in here. She felt so guilty and ashamed of herself.

Her eyes then made its way to the door, looking past the torn fence to the hill behind it. This was the fourth day she wasn't up there. Before, just remembering the Rojuro's cold gaze sent shivers down her spine but today she thought she should get up there. He hasn't eaten in days, right? She didn't have much but still enough to share.

She got to her feet. She was going to see him **now**.

-O-

Ivy dropped down on her usual spot in the grass in defeat. Tears pooled at the corners of her eyes as she looked at the place the story teller usually sat. No matter how much she looked, she just couldn't find him. There wasn't even anything there to prove the he ever even existed. It was as if he just…vanished.

She violently shook her head. It wasn't possible that she had thought him up. The grass he usually sat on was pressed down as proof.

"Mister, where did you go?" she murmured as she crawled over to his sitting place.

Her eyes widened and she gasped at what she saw. Blood; lots and lots of it smeared all over the grass.

Was he bleeding?

Her eyes squeezed together and POOF! Like magic, the blood was gone. She blinked a few times and watched the area. Squeezing her eyes shut, she saw the dark red blood again. She blinked and it was gone.

She stared down at the area in disbelief before pressing her eyes together again. Not only was the blood present but millions of things flashed before her eyes. The air wasn't clear; it had this sort of dark-blue hue to it. Light shone from all directions and strange symbols lay suspended in the air. There were stars everywhere. The sun and moon were hung by threads.

Little winged creatures tittered as they flew playfully past her face. She looked back down at the blood to find it no more than a pool of water. Her forehead creased as she saw figures moving in the water- almost like a movie. She concentrated on the pool before she realised it was only reflections she saw. Of what though?

Looking up at the sky she saw the large, puffy, purple clouds part to reveal the story she was being told for the last few days.

-O-

"Dad, is something wrong?" Karin asked as her father led her into the house. Yuzu was wearing the same puzzled, concerned look at the foot of the stairs. As Karin didn't get any answer Yuzu spoke up.

"Daddy?"

He looked at her and smiled.

"Just go to your room, dear. Nothing is wrong." he answered softly.

"But why Dad?" Karin asked as she put her foot on the first stair.

He didn't answer.

"Daddy, aren't you going to answer?" Yuzu queried. Before they both knew what was happening, a colourful powder blew past their faces. Without another word, the twins turned and headed up the stairs. As soon as they were out of sight, Isshin sighed as passed a hand through his hair.

He took four small, metallic balls out of his pocket. He placed two of them on the tiles of the first stair. The tiles seemed to ripple before the balls sank into them. A flash of blue was seen before a barrier formed in front of the staircase. He turned and placed the next metallic balls in the wood of the door. Same thing happened as with the first two.

Isshin sighed and placed his hands in his pockets.

"It's starting."

-O-

"Soi Fong."

The short woman turned slightly to see who called her.

"Is there something I could do for you, Hitsugaya?" she asked as she turned to face the shorter male with white hair.

His sharp teal eyes darted cautiously before snapping back to her.

"Don't you find anything around being a little…strange?" he asked carefully.

"I see very strange things all the time Hitsugaya." she answered almost impatiently. "What do you mean exactly by 'strange'?"

His eyes cautiously followed a servant girl as she walked past.

"There was a strange presence here for a long time. Somewhere in this country is as far as I could point it out. It cloaked itself expertly for a long time but now it seems more…active." He looked Soi Fong directly in her eyes as before he finished. "It's in Shanati."

As soon as he finished a deafening scream echoed throughout the palace.

"What-" Soi Fong started but Hitsugaya was already running towards the sound.

"What's the problem?" he snapped. A small woman wearing a servant's kimono sat in the ground wide-eyed, pale and sweating. She was pointing to the open door in front of her while rambling incoherently.

He looked at her questioningly before looking into the room. By that time Soi Fong had arrived and was too looking into the room.

"Oh my-" she gasped.

The four walls of the room were nearly covered in black from a fire. Chains were strewn across the room while some were pulled tight to suspend a body in the centre of the room.

"It's Hisagi." Hitsugaya murmured.

Although he was bloody and burned, he was still recognizable. His right hand was shredded and bloody while his right eye lay on the ground underneath him. The skin where his tattoo had been dug out and his clothes torn to reveal his burned up torso.

"What the hell happened here?" Soi Fong said.

Hitsugaya took a deep breath before saying, "I don't know but I'm going to send out an alert to the rest of the Council." He turned to Soi Fong. "Gather the Royal Army."

-O-

Ichigo pulled his shirt over his head and sighed. Although Rukia told him not to follow her, he had an urge to do so anyway. Suddenly, he stumbled and groaned. He held his head in pain as his eyes shone a bright blue light and words flashed before his sight.

"Shit." he cursed. "What the hell are they gathering the soldiers for?"

-O-

"She was alive? Where?" Rukia asked breathlessly.

"Here, for two months." Byakuya answered with a hint of tenderness in his voice. "I was in love with her."

She stared at him in disbelief.

"If I am correct, your sister was able to see into the future."

"Yes, you are correct." she admitted with wide eyes.

He spun his chair around and sighed.

"The creatures of Inastinamia are the dominant species of your world, right? And they would not hesitate to kill any species that threaten their rule, am I correct?"

He glanced up at her surprised face before continuing.

"They cursed your people and killed many of them. You were often protected by Tazen who in a final attempt to protect you all became part of your beings. Figuring this out, they tried to kill Tazen and all other beings with similar abilities such as Tobiume, Kazeshini, Zabimaru et cetera.

"Hisana, being able to see into the future, looked for the destruction of the Inastinaminans. She found it; you. You found that out later and that is the reason you are in this world. Hisana came here in order to prepare things and inform a chosen few about you but she found out the startling truth.

"Yes, you shall destroy your destroyers and also protect this kingdom from a great danger but with a heavy cost."

"And that is?" Rukia asked.

"Your existence would merge with the one of here."

She raised a brow.

"You'd die." he clarified.

Rukia's world stopped spinning. A year ago, if she was given these options she would have gladly fulfilled them and save her people but now, it was different. For some very selfish reason she just didn't want to die. Her life no seemed to have so much more to it than fighting and watching her comrades die. She wanted something other than saving millions of people. She wanted Ichigo. He was her world and she would rather slaughter a whole country than leave him.

That was very selfish of her, wasn't it?

That one man was stopping her from achieving the goal her people screamed for. That one measly man was causing her to have more people back at home murdered with every passing second. That _**one**_ man made her want to abandon her homeland and make a new life with a whole species as the sacrifice.

She hung her head in guilt and shame.

"Byakuya, I don't want to die."

"Then what do you want to do, lil' miss?" came a foreign voice. Rukia looked up to see a man clad in an expensive suit and a hat that was shading his eyes. He looked like the most suspicious person out there and that didn't lighten with the fact that he was leaning on a cane.

"This is none of your concern, Urahara." Byakuya spat.

"Oh, yes it is." the stranger said tipping his hat to reveal his young face and grey eyes. "My life depends on her decision."

"I'm sorry, who are you?"

He turned to Rukia, taking off his hat and bowing. His pale blond hair fell in front off his face.

"Sorry, sorry. Where are my manners?" he scolded himself as he stood straight. "Urahara Kisuke is the name and I am the common link between your world and this one. By my earlier words I do hope you realize that I love my life."

"You love your life and yet you deserve to die." Byakuya growled.

"Shush kid!" Urahara put his finger to his lips. "This is not the time to criticize my life but rather see what the lil' miss chooses to do with hers."

"Excuse me," Rukia spoke up. "What do you mean by 'common link'?"

"As I said, about your life and not mine." he said mysteriously. Byakuya rolled his eyes.

"And so miss, what are you going to choose?" Urahara said in his naturally polite voice. "My opinion is that you die and save us all."

"Shut up!" Byakuya hissed. "She has time! Don't press her!"

"I would tell you to have patience but apparently we don't have any time!" Urahara said playfully.

"What are you talking ab-" Byakuya stopped as a loud, crunching sound was heard and the building wobbled.

"That is exactly what I mean by not having much time!" Urahara exclaimed. "For clarification please look out of the window on my right."

Byakuya gave the mad man a confused look before rushing to the window. A loud crackling sound was heard as he stared at the scene with wide, disbelieving eyes.

"The…the city…" he murmured. Rukia rushed up behind him to see what could possibly make him have this reaction.

"No…" she gasped as a red glow fell over her face. The city was mostly in ruins; flaming ruins. Lava poured from buildings into roads causing instant fatality to everything it touched. Trees that once happily danced in the wind seemed to now be trying to extinguish their flaming tops.

"My God…." Urahara whispered close to her ear. "This _is _terrible." He spun and tapped his cane on the floor. "We must leave here immediately!"

"And how do you propose we do that?" Byakuya queried as he examined his flaming gardens.

"Why," the blond exclaimed. "By the use her of course!"

Rukia stared dumbly at the finger being pointed at her.

"Me?"

"Yes, of course you! Who else?"

She was at a loss for words.

"But…how?" she asked.

"With your ice! I know you're a mage of that element." he huffed.

"But my powers are almost impossible to control in this world!" she exclaimed.

He sighed. "I wish it didn't have to come to this."

The non-blood siblings blinked in unison. The man took off his hat and pulled out a _**WHOLE FUCKING SWORD **_from it.

"What the hell did he just do?" Rukia asked Byakuya, her voice shaky from shock.

He could only shrug with the same shocked look on his face.

"Now, now shush! No time to get all worked up!" Urahara scolded. "You, lil' miss, when you came to this world the spirit in your body made herself dormant in order to accommodate the switch and keep you alive. This dormancy took away most of your power. By stabbing yourself in the heart with this blade, you'd be able to call forth your power and the spirit through the blade."

Rukia grabbed for the blade but the man stopped her.

"It is only fair to warn you that the moment this goes through your chest, your existence will start depleting."

She stopped reaching for the weapon and her hands dropped limply to her sides.

"Think about this carefully." he warned. "Take your chances with the rising flow of lava or would you prefer definitely dying later? Would you take this power or let **him **die?"

She looked up at him in shock.

"I'm the link between our worlds." he stated simply. "I know everything."

Without another word or hesitance in her actions, she grabbed the blade and plunged it into her heart. Byakuya looked on in horror as blood rose up her throat and ran down her lips.

"Your decision has been respected." Urahara said.

At that precise moment, the scorching temperatures of the room dropped drastically and a thick layer of white ice covered the floor.

"What choice did I have?" Rukia's voice pierced through the fog rising in the room. "Die now or die later. I chose the obvious."

"Ha ha. You go ahead and pretend that is the only reason." he laughed dryly as the fog cleared.

The raven haired woman stood there with ice crawling up her bare arms and up the left side of her face. The shoulders of her pale yellow shirt were torn and so were the legs of her black three-quarters. Ice had replaced the cloth. Her skin had turn an unhealthy colour of pale blue and in her hand was a sword of the purest white. A white ribbon flowed from its hilt.

"Well don't just stand there princess!" Urahara cried. "Do your thing!"

On cue, she lifted the blade and spun it above her head. Her eyes locked in concentration before she stabbed the floor with all her might.

There was a small still moment before power burst from the sword. A strong, icy wind dispersed from the blade, chilling everything it reached and mercilessly extinguished the flames.

Byakuya's face displayed awe.

"Very pretty, beautiful, powerful, amazing; I know! You'd probably want compliments lil' miss but we have no time. We are still very much in danger." Urahara said quickly.

"Wait!" Rukia snapped. "You know what's going on so tell us."

As if planned, the wall burst open throwing chunks of cement at the trio. Two large, scaly, red beasts with long jaws and sharp teeth stomped savagely in. Rukia recognized them immediately.

"Well, your lovely neighbours from back at home are what are going on. They decided to expand their rule starting from the nearest world." Urahara said rather calmly. One monster uncurled its large claws to reveal a bloody, burnt-orange haired head.

"Orihime…" Rukia gasped as she looked into the girl's lifeless grey eyes. She felt a burst of hatred filled anger in her chest. It slowly made its way to her hands and she curled her fingers so tightly around the hilt of her sword that blood found itself running down the pure white blade.

If she was ever asked to recall that moment, she wouldn't have been able to. She couldn't remember the exact moment her feet moved and she sent the blade through the monster's neck. Her foot lightly touched the ground before she sent her weapon through the other's stomach.

She didn't stop there. She continued to assault the creatures even as their bodies fell to the floor. Her feet stomped on their motionless bodies hoping that they felt pain. These demons deserved nothing better than death! Even death was too good for them! They should experience endless torture.

She felt several strong arms grab her and push her to a wall.

"Let me go!" she screamed.

"No, you can't be doing this now." Urahara's voice sounded through her ear, hot from rage. "My partner has gathered most people to a safe place. We need to go there."

She soon felt the blood pumping in her head slow down and next thing she knew, she was following them out of there.

-O-

A tall, dark skinned woman with long, purple hair sat on a floating platform while awaiting her comrade. Her ears perked up as she heard a crunch on the frozen streets.

"Kisuke, you're back!" she said in a relieved tone as she turned to face her friend. Her eyes quickly scanned the crowd behind him and she grinned. "I see you but Baby Byakuya, his whole household and our heroine.

"You have no right to be calling me a baby, bitch! Bow down and apologize this instant!"

She ignored the teenager's rant.

"Yoruichi-san, have you gotten everyone here?" Urahara asked loudly.

"Not everyone." she said with a sigh. "You were in charge of Byakuya's place and most of the soldiers have been called to the balance for defence. They should be safe until the next wave of attacks." All the while she was drawing a box in the air with her fingers.

Rukia looked up at Urahara.

"Is Ichigo as the palace?" she asked worriedly.

The woman called Yoruichi obviously heard her.

"Isshin's boy?" she asked. "Yeah, he's there. He's also gonna be in the first line of defence."

Rukia's head dropped in worry.

Yoruichi finished what she was doing and examined the thick lines of what was apparently a door. Her hand reached for the knob and opened the door to reveal a rocky terrain. She flicked a hand towards the group and platforms appeared like a staircase leading up to the door. Urahara motioned for the group to follow Yoruichi who was entering the door. One by one, the crowd of Wholes and Hollows disappeared through the door.

Rukia hesitantly put her foot on the first platform before looking back towards the city. She looked up at the place towering over all other buildings with her boyfriend playing on her mind.

"Ichigo…" she murmured. She felt Urahara's arm drape over her shoulder.

"He'd be fine." he assured her and for a second, she thought him a good person. That thought quickly disappeared as he looked at her with a serious gaze.

"As long as you do what you have to do."

With that, he led her up the platform and through the door.

_0_

_Finally! I could put it out. Please don't curse me bout who i killed. I don't have grudges against those characters._

_Well, this is basically all the characters. In all stories there is a big bad boss. Please leave a review telling me who you think it is. If you don't think it's anyone, please leave an epic name for a big bad boss._

_Anyway, please leave a review. I should update on Thursday so look out for me please.  
_


	12. Chapter 12

_Sacrifice- the losing or surrender of something for something greater_

How were you supposed to feel if you knew you were going to die? Not dying when it was time to die but rushing to it with full force while you still had things you wanted to live for? How are you supposed to feel when you knew that thousands upon thousands of people were counting on the destruction of your life? That most of them couldn't care less what happened to you despite the fact you were saving them?

_Destruction- the ruin of downfall_

That one word covered, told, _defined _most of her life. That's all she ever saw in her world and that is all she had to look forward to. Also, that was what she was hoping for. Not the destruction of her world but the destruction of her destroyers. It was all that was needed to end all this chaos. She just had to destroy a whole species to end her problems.

Hah! Ironic isn't it?

And then, there was still the ocean of mindless, emotionless eyes staring at her. They were oblivious, couldn't think about, and couldn't care about what was going on. It seemed like murder to leave all of these senseless things to die.

But didn't **THEY** get it?

That **THEY** were the soulless ones that were murdering her?

That **THEY **were sending her to sure doom?

She violently shook her head. It wasn't their faults. It was her choice. She chose to pull the sword from Urahara and drive it through her own heart.

But if so, why did she still feel like this? Feeling the uncontrollable urge to blame someone? Why does it sadden her so much to know of her own death? She was actually dying for this opportunity before but now, she just didn't want it.

Why does her heart hurt so much?

Why?

Why?

Why?

"Lil' miss?"

She was abruptly dragged from her thoughts of self pity and looked up from the light brown rock she was sitting on.

"Lil' miss; did you hear what I said?" Urahara asked.

She gently shook her head.

"You came to destroy the Inastinamians' 'heart', so in other words, the base or source of their existence." It didn't sound like a question but he paused and looked at her expectantly. She nodded.

"That artefact exists in this world rather than their world, correct?"

She nodded again.

"The problem here is that even though I am the 'Link', I can't pinpoint its exact location. Do you know where it is?"

Her brows knitted together and she looked down at her lap. She closed her eyes and took a deep breath. Almost instantly, an image of a room illuminated by dim candle light came into her mind. The doors were made of red paper and in the centre of the room was a large bed with red nets over it. That wasn't what caught her eyes though. No, instead it was a small bedside table covered with precious gems and made of mahogany.

She opened her eyes and looked Urahara square in the eyes.

"I know where it is."

"Then go get it." he said as he adjusted his hat and sat down. "The sooner you do that, the less possibility there would be that the Royal Army would have to go into battle…" He looked her in the eye here. "…and the less possibility that the one you love would die."

-O-

"Kisuke, do you actually believe that our invaders only wanted to expand their dominancy? I believe that they finally figured out that this is where their lives reside."

The man looked from the large screen before him and over at his purple-haired partner.

"Well…with the amount of those monsters in this area, I'm forced to think that they indeed figured it out." he admitted as he took off his hat and scratched his head.

"What do you think lil' miss?" he asked through his headset.

Across town, the said girl was leaning on a pile of rubble while panting heavily.

"Urahara, don't say a damn thing if it isn't going to help me." she panted.

"Well, well…" the man's voice came as a metallic buzz over the headset. "Just thought you might be interested, that's all."

The girl snorted before looking over the rubble and at the six armed monsters that were searching for her.

She turned back and silently contemplated a plan. Finally arriving at one, she took a deep breath before putting it into action.

Turning, she stabbed her blade into her hiding spot before kicking it. It froze then broke into large, uneven pieces. She immediately sent piece of the frozen rock into one of the beast, earning herself a satisfying crunch. She didn't pause but gave another monster the same treatment.

Spinning on her toes, she slashed her blade downwards. A wave of ice blasted from the tip towards her remaining enemies. One of them cocked its head and grunted before lifting its axe and crashing it to the ground. A wave of lava erupted from the earth, cancelling out the ice.

The next moment, excruciating pain tore through her left arm. One of the foul monsters had grabbed her arm, using its sharp claws to rip apart her flesh. Before she could properly register what was happening, her screams were tearing though the air.

Without a thought, she drove her blade towards its head. It easily grabbed the sword and grinned obscenely down at her. She rammed her knee into its chest and it groaned before sinking to the ground. She wasted no time in taking her weapon and delivering the fatal blow to its head. With a powerful swing of her sword, the remaining monsters stood trapped in ice. She groaned as she sunk to her knees and surveyed the damage she had been dealt.

Her arm had been given the same treatment as her comrade Kaien from her memory of the steaming cave. It hung at her side limp, bloody, shredded and useless. She gave it a disgusted look before mercilessly amputating it. A useless limb was just a burden. After taking a few breaths, she continued her journey into a white and green building before her.

Unlike most of the other buildings around it, this one had hardly any damage dealt to it. Although she didn't know the exact location of her target, this place was definitely her top candidate.

The first floor was simply breathtaking. The walls were painted in an elegant yellow with white designs. The floor was oaken with a few small holes from the chaos that went on earlier. Statues of beautiful creatures that man should never see erected from the floor. They were all so different and so alive that she couldn't help but stare. That was her mistake.

A blunt, solid object rammed into her back. Rukia was forced forward on impact and a low, gasping sound pulsed from her throat. She hit the ground and rolled over to see a large, grey object falling towards her face at a lot of speed. Reacting quickly, she rolled over and the object slammed into the ground, creating a small crater.

Her eyes moved from the attempt murder-weapon to the attempt murderer. This being was made of a material similar to the concrete that made up the statues around her. It resembled a woman who was crying from the chest upwards but the rest of its body was like a horse's. Many long, slimy, tentacle-like limbs hung from its lower half and spines burst from its back.

With its tentacle-like limbs, it lifted the object from the floor and struck out at her again. Rukia dodged the object, which happened to be something like a large, concrete jar. The attack sent wood flying towards her face, scratching her smooth skin. Instead of it bleeding like usual wounds, her skin seemed to crack like ice. From reflex, her eyes instantly shut and her right hand flew in front of her face. This was soon proven to be a mistake.

One of the creature's many tentacles lashed out at her. It felt just as it looked, hard as rock and as heavy as a log. Saliva flew from her mouth as the appendage crashed into her ribcage. The skin on her stomach cracked painfully and left a trail till the bottom of her lips.

With saliva still trailing down her lips, she grabbed the monster's limb in an attempt to freeze it. It realised her intentions and mercilessly shot another limb out at her neck. It then found the pleasures of curling the tentacle tightly around the said body part. She let out a chocked gasp as it lifted her off the ground, watching in pleasure as she helplessly squirmed in its grasp.

She clawed wildly at the limb, making small, frozen patches in the areas her nails touched. The beast, realising that its tentacle was slowly being frozen, heartlessly flung her into a wall. A loud crack confirmed the fate of the skin on her back.

Her body fell limply to the ground and the alien creature came towards her, its limbs making holes in the ground with every step. Rukia forced her body to face her attacker. Her skin was changing from pale-blue to paper-white rapidly.

Without any hesitation whatsoever, it mercilessly lifted one of its appendages then sent it flying towards her to deliver the fatal blow.

"Foolish thing."

It realised her location but couldn't react to it. The tentacle slammed into the faux body, sending a wave of ice towards it.

"Really foolish thing."

Rukia circled the victim of her ice. Her hand was holding the area of her back now blackening from the blow she received. That was the first and only damage she was actually dealt by the monster.

She lifted her fingers to touch the ice. Her eyes studied the creature with a hard cold stare.

"A failed experiment using the lesser species of that world." she thought in disgust. "Its reason for destroying is that it was probably trying to quell its pain. It probably lost its mind a long time ago."

Squeezing her hand into a fist, she caused the ice to shatter, ending the existence of the mutated beast. With a sigh, she turned and continued on her quest.

-O-

He stared out of the palace windows, scanning the city. There was a huge mass of red that could have been seen to the west, exposing the location of the Inastinaminans. Looking downwards, he could've seen the wholes with attack magic in front of the palace. That is where he belonged. Behind them were hollow soldiers followed by the magicians who controlled the hollows. Following that were the whole soldiers. All together, it was a very large army of people; nothing compared to the sea of red in a distance.

"Rukia…"

He knew he should be worrying about his own life but found it nearly impossible to do. His mind was constantly drifting to the possible locations of his raven haired girlfriend. He hoped that she had somehow managed to survive the wave of lava; he hoped she was in someplace safe. He especially hoped that if his previous wishes were granted, she wouldn't be found by the strange monsters.

"Hey, Ichigo, we got to go!"

He sighed as he turned to face Ikkaku.

"What the hell is wrong with you?" Ikkaku asked, his face showing disgust. "Stop giving out that weird, constipated vibe."

Before Ichigo could say anything, it clicked inside of Ikkaku's head.

"Oh you're worried about that 'priestess' woman…"

At that moment, the whole foundation of the building shook. Ichigo grabbed wildly at something for support while Ikkaku simply stood there.

"I don't actually care what happens to me out there," Ikkaku spoke up as the building stop shaking. "But if this place has any chance of surviving, that stupid noble better be right. If she's the one saving this place, she better be hurrying to do it right now."

-O-

A sigh of relief left her mouth, she had finally found it. She stood in the beautiful red room illuminated by red light. Everything was just as it was in her vision; expensive and delicate. Her eyes scanned for the bedside table she had seen and almost immediately found it. The next moment she was sliding the drawer open.

She unintentionally squinted at the glare of the bright, red jewel inside. The gem was hanging from a chain of pure gold and on the inside of it, there seemed to be continuous movement.

As her fingers curled around the gold chain, she felt her heartbeat speed up. She heard thousands of angry voices screaming at her from under the sound of her own pulse. Her head started going light as blood flowed from her ears and nose. She dropped the gem and staggered backwards.

Her body dropped to the ground and she tried to wipe the blood flowing from her mouth.

Although her vision had blurred, she could see long legs clad in black stepping over her. The person leaned over and picked up the gem.

"Well, aren't you that supposed 'hero'? Aren't you going to stop me?" an all too familiar voice cooed. Rukia weakly lifted her head, trying hard to make out the figure before her.

"You…"she growled weakly. "You're that noble."

"Noble?" the person asked before letting out a feminine laugh. "Oh, that woman? I just simply killed her and took her body. I was hoping to have you killed at that trial."

Rukia's sight danced in and out of focus. She made out white sandals and black skin-tight pants. The person was wearing a white top and hair fell down over her shoulders. Higher up were icy-blue eyes staring down at her in sadistic amusement.

"You killed her?" Rukia asked in disbelief.

"Why, yes. Is it so hard to believe?" the strawberry blonde asked as she flipped back her hair.

"When?"

"Oh…I'd say a little while before I killed your sister…"

Rukia's eyes widened. "You killed Hisana?"

The 'noble' gave her a twisted smile. "What? Did I stutter?"

The next thing 'Rangiku' knew, her face had been slammed into a wall and Rukia's small hand was making sure it stayed there. She felt blood oozing out from the spaces between her teeth.

"Rangiku isn't your name, monster," Rukia spat. "What is it?"

"Elishina," she smirked despite her position. "Elishina the Faux."

Rukia tightened her grip on the monster's hair before pulling her head back and slamming it again into the wall. After repeating this a few times, Rukia pulled Elishina back to see her disfigured face.

"Do you mind telling me why you are smiling, beast?"

"This." the monster smirked before long claw-like appendages burst from its back and grabbed Rukia. With ease, she threw the small woman across the room and she crashed into the antique bed, destroying it.

Her head pocked out of the rubble just in time to see a long, large beast burst from Rangiku's body. It was red, scaly and had four long claws. Seven horns stood erect on its head and its face seemed to be a long jaw with small eyes at the top. It stood on the tail of its large body and its skin secreted a weird substance.

It tossed its head back, flinging the substance onto the wall. The wall started to sizzle and smoke as soon as the substance touched it. Rukia got into a stance, holding her blade in her only hand.

The creature shook its head in mock pity before smirking.

"Stupid thing."

-O-

Ichigo stumbled back as the person next to him was blasted into pieces. The remains of the corpse were engulfed in flames as it fell to the ground. He lifted his hands and a wave of dark energy burst from it. His enemy merely smacked it away as if it was a rubber ball.

"Shit!" he cursed as he took a step back. He tripped and came face to face with Ikkaku's lifeless body.

"Damn it to hell!"

He quickly looked up to see the monster's axe falling towards his head.

Suddenly, an icy wind was felt and the beast froze on contact with it. From the corner of his eye, Ichigo saw a large creature flash across the sky.

"Kurosaki, stand up!"

He immediately scrambled to his feet.

"I'm sorry, Sir Hitsugaya."

The short, white-haired noble climbed from the back of a large, red eyed creature made of ice. He looked at Ichigo before speaking.

"These monsters seem to be vulnerable to ice. I'd have my winged-serpent hold them off." Hitsugaya stopped and stroked his pet's back. It growled in pleasure. "But there are so many of them. Hyorinmaru is strong but with a mob this big, it doesn't matter how strong he is." He turned sharply to Ichigo; his words were cold and sharp. "You know what that means don't you?"

Ichigo looked up into the sky that was being clouded with black smoke.

"It means we need a miracle."

-O-

Rukia barely managed to hold back a scream as she felt the monster's acid slowly eat through her thigh. Elishina let out a sadistic cackle as she tightened her grip on Rukia's leg.

"I'm using the weakest acid I could make, you know." It laughed. "I really want to hear you scream as you feel your leg corrode; I really do."

Rukia heard the blood dripping from her lips splatter onto the floor. Her face was flushed red and her head felt light. The blood trailing from her forehead didn't make her feel any better.

Elishina jerked Rukia's foot upward, causing her body to jolt painfully. The monster again let out a cruel laugh.

"What is it, Miss Hero? Weren't you the one with so much spirit only a few minutes ago?" It let out another wicked laugh and held out the gem tauntingly. Rukia reached weakly at it. "You want this now don't you. Well…too bad!"

The woman could only see the jewel blurring above her. Damn it, she felt so weak!

She faintly reached up to grab her knees. The monster lifted a brow.

"You can still move? Ch! Pitiful!"

Rukia didn't listen, she just let a small wave of ice from her fingertips through her skin and down into her blood.

"What are you doing?" Elishina asked as she saw the girl's leg go rapidly blue. It shrieked and dropped both Rukia and the gem as it felt ice burst from Rukia's skin and latch onto its body. Rukia quickly scrambled for the gem and froze it.

Elishina looked at her in panic as it tried to beat the ice off its claws.

"Goodbye bitch." Rukia whispered loudly before pounding the gem onto the ground with all her might. The jewel shattered into thousands of tiny pieces immediately. Elishina's eyes widened in horror.

"NO!" it screamed as a bright light dispersed from the remains of the gem. Rukia dug her nails into the floor as the power dispersed from the gem caused Elishina to be destroyed.

-O-

She had to hurry; she could already feel her existence being painfully pulled apart. Her entire body felt a dull, pulsing pain and she felt as if blades were dancing in her chest. A groan escaped her as she tripped over a corpse. Solider or Inastinaminan; she couldn't care.

"Ichigo!" she screamed as she continued to limp down the bloody road. She could hardly see a thing but she had to find him, her soul wouldn't rest until she did.

"Ichigo! Ichigo, where are you?"

She couldn't walk for much longer. Although her will was strong, her body was unable. Her body crashed barely three steps later.

God, she didn't want to die like this. She had to see him again. Please, just one more time.

Strong arms pulled her up and a warm hand patted her face.

"Rukia? Rukia, damn it! Wake up!"

Her eyes cracked open and her sight danced for a couple of seconds.

"Ichigo…?"

He looked down at her, his eyes showing panic, sadness, anger and need.

"Yes, Rukia, it's me. Damn it! Don't leave me!"

She tried to force herself to smile and only managed to muster a pathetic looking one.

"Ichigo, I'm sorry. I have no choice."

"No Rukia! I said you are not fucking leaving me!"

He picked her up and leaned her up on a wall. His knees hit the ground and he buried his face in the crook of her neck, his shoulders shaking violently.

Her head fell onto his shoulders and she sighed.

"I don't want to die." she admitted.

"Then don't!" he shouted into her shoulder.

Her hand reached up to play with his hair and she inhaled his scent. God, he smelled good! He pulled away from her shoulder and looked at him with a tear-stained face. She smiled weakly and crashed her lips onto his. He tasted as intoxicating as always. Damn, she didn't want it to end.

_As they shared their kiss, millions of glowing purple orbs drifted down from the sky and came to rest on the millions of hollows of the Atalanian kingdom. Each orb contained part of Tazen and by travelling to this world, he found a host as the hollows of this kingdom. As a result, all of the hollows were given the ability to handle their own hearts and so became wholes._

Rukia broke the kiss and looked into Ichigo's eyes lovingly. She could hardly see and so around the edges he looked a bit fuzzy but still, he was the most beautiful person she had ever seen.

"Rukia, I love you." he gasped.

"I know. And I also love you."

She smiled and leaned into his ear to whisper something. His eyes widened. She leaned back onto the wall and smiled a truly happy smile.

"I love you, Ichigo."

_Those were her final words. Her fingers got cold and fell off her body as a small heap of snow. The rest off her soon did the same. Seasons would change and years would pass but the snow never melted. The solider gathered the snow and put it in a bottle next to his heart. After seven days, he returned home after treating his injuries at the palace. The next day they found him at his home, dead. A small, serene smile was on his face and in his shirt was the bottle of snow._

__0__

_Okay...I took really long to put this up and I'm sorry. Please leave me a review telling me what you think. I might be putting out a next chapter but I have exams next week so..._

_Again, please tell me what you think.  
_


	13. Chapter 13

Ivy's eyes sparkled in glee. She had figured it out! Pushing herself off the grass and onto the feet, she smiled at the thick air before spinning on her toes. This place, the reason she was here; she knew what it was at last!

"I know this place," she gasped. "This is…"

-O-

"_Rukia, hurry up!"_

_The ten year old looked up at her best friend, a deep scowl on her face._

"_Gosh, what the hell does it look like I'm doing?" she growled threateningly._

_The red haired boy stopped running through the long, yellow grass and waited for the girl to catch up._

_He looked up at the sky and frowned._

"_Hisana said she wouldn't be able to do it if we don't get out of here by Linith…" Renji said. Rukia looked up at the sky in worry. Red was quickly covering the light grey of the sky; a sign that Linith was quickly approaching._

"_Then, how about you help me carry this, Renji?" Rukia suggested as she continued to pull the large chest up the hill._

"_I can't, Rukia. Hisana warned me not to touch it."_

_Rukia groaned at the mention of her sister's name. When Hisana's name was called, she knew she had no say._

"_Rukia, we made it!"_

_She looked up at the door in relief. It stood in the middle of the field without any support. It wasn't any normal kind of door; it was a door that connected any two places with its permission. Since it was Hisana's door, she had already gained the permission to use it._

"_Hurry!" Renji pleaded as he held the door open for her. "I could feel them coming!"_

_The sky had gone completely red._

_Rukia didn't dare argue. She immediately pushed the chest through the doorway and pulled Renji in with her._

_Looking over his shoulder, Renji saw a creature the size of a human silently emerge from the ground. It was brown like dirt and its back was covered in the long, yellow grass. Its red eyes flashed dangerously as it raised a bow. It quickly placed an arrow in it then __**SLAM!**_

_Renji heard the arrow hit the wood of the door just as it slammed shut._

_They were almost caught in Linith._

_He let out a breath of relief and looked over at Rukia. She was kneeling on the ground and letting out loud pants. Her hands were gripping the chest for support. Pushing the chest up that hill by herself had her feeling tired._

"_You're back." a soft voice from the corner of the small, dark room said._

_Some books were heard crashing to the ground as a petite figure made its way towards them. A few more things fell to the ground before the person stood before them._

"_Welcome back Renji, Rukia." The teen greeted warmly. She was about fifteen years old and looked almost exactly like Rukia. There were a few differences such as her sickliness and her volume of hair was more than Rukia's._

"_We're back, Hisana-nee."_

_The girl looked down at the chest Rukia was clutching._

"_Renji, did you touch it?"_

"_No Hisana."_

_She smiled in approval. "Good."_

"_What do you need those things for, sis?" Rukia asked._

_Hisana smiled at her sister before dragging the chest away from her._

"_I warned Renji not to touch it because with his abilities, he would have nullified the magic of the items in the chest. These are items for future telling."_

"_Future telling?" Renji asked as he followed her across the room. "Do you mean you're going to see how we are going to win against the Inastinaminans?" _

_Hisana sighed. "__If __we are to win."_

_Renji could only nod. _

_He wanted to say it, to scream it even; "We are going to win! We have to!"_

_The only thing stopping him was the fact that he didn't know. They didn't know if they were going to win. The other side had the upper hand when it came to the war. The humans didn't have much mages or spirits to help them._

_Everyone was afraid to open their mouths and speak. Living as a legal human was already difficult enough with the discrimination and watching your kind being brutalized and murdered on the streets. With one mistake, questionable act or slip-up, you knew that was going to be you._

_Rukia and Renji watched in silence as Hisana stalked up and down the room, grabbing a few things from drawers and shelved. She grabbed a mixing bowl from the counter before walking into the next room and slamming the door shut._

_Renji sat quietly onto the floor and Rukia followed. They could both hear younger children giggling and playing in the room next to Hisana's. Renji turned to watch Rukia write a spell in light purple onto the air._

"_Whatcha doing?" he asked barely above a whisper. She turned to him and grinned. Her hand reached out and grabbed a fistful of her spell._

_She opened her hand to reveal five plump, dazzling, light blue berries. _

"_Mishas." she said. "You want one?"_

_He reached out to take one. It immediately lost its dazzle then turned into nothing. He groaned and stuffed his hands into his pockets._

"_Stupid nullification abilities…"_

_Rukia stared at his grumpy figure for a moment before an idea came to her. She placed two of the berries on the floor and they lost their dazzle. She motioned for him to take them and he did. Nothing happened to them._

"_How?" he asked._

_She bit into the fruit and moaned as an icy fresh taste filled her mouth. She closed her eyes and motioned for him to wait._

"_I stopped the floor of my magic in it. It was already safely in here so your nullification abilities had no effect." she explained as soon as the taste died down. Her ability to bypass his magic was proven to be the biggest flaw in his abilities soon later. Many people including him died because of it._

_Suddenly, there was a loud rumble and the room shook violently. Blue smoke flowed from under the door of Hisana's room._

"_Nee-chan!" Rukia shouted as she burst into the room, her face dripping with sweat and her eyes wide with panic. Thick, dark blue smoke clouded the floor and on the walls and ceiling were strange symbols. Strange items and books were strewn all over the room. Hisana was nowhere in sight._

"_Nee-chan?" Rukia called as she stepped near a blue candle with a grey flame._

"_Where are you? Are you in here?"_

_Renji stepped into the room and looked around. He scanned through the items strew around the room and eyed some scorch marks in the middle of the room suspiciously._

"_Rukia," he spoke up. "I think she went to 'The Net'."_

_She spun around and looked at him angrily._

"_That's impossible." she shouted. "She left her 'Oca' here! How is she to return? Hisana is not the type to forget something like that!"_

_During her exclamation, Renji went ahead and scanned the room some more. He spotted three cards lying facedown on the floor._

"_I don't think she's coming back…"_

_Rukia's head snapped towards the boy._

"_What do you mean?" she asked softly in an attempt to hide the fear in her voice._

_He turned and silently handed her the cards. The first on showed two large, brightly coloured spheres with a light blue path between them. The second showed a small creature standing above and holding a sword over a larger, swooned beast. The last was blank except for its blue lining._

"_Dimensions…victory… I can't figure out what the last one says though." Renji said. Rukia only stared at the cards with wide-eyes. Renji gave a large smile._

"_See? Right I told you we were going to win? We just had to have-"_

"_Renji, this is my card." she blurted finally. His mouth shut and it was his time to stare._

"_What?"_

_As soon as he said that, there was a high-pitched wail and the room next to them exploded, engulfing everything in flames._

_-O-_

"_You're not like us." she said in a clear, strong voice. The man looked over at the eleven-year old standing at the other side of the fire. Her eyes were sharp and cold. The worn, brown dress she wore barely reached her knees._

"_Tell me what you are." she demanded. _

_The man laughed, his hair falling into his face and his shoulders shaking violently._

"_That's not how a young lady should ask." he said as soon as he calmed down._

"_I'm no lady." she snapped almost immediately. "I'm a woman of the battlefield; a warrior. I am here to train so I could fight for my people. Now, what are you?"_

"_I'm a human." he replied._

"_Lies!" she shouted. "I'm a mage. I know a human when I see one! If you are here to hurt my friends, I would end you this instant!"_

_The seriousness and the confidence empty of vanity she said those words with caused the man's silver eyes to widen in awe._

"_Warrior," he said as he motioned to the space next to him. "Please, come and sit with me."_

_She silently walked around the fire and sat next to him._

"_Try anything and you would instantly loose a limb." she warned coldly._

_He nodded and picked up the flask next to his knee. He took a few gulps of the steaming liquid it contained._

"_What is your name, warrior mage?" _

"_Rukia." she answered. "What are you, strange being?" _

_He laughed at the way she referred to him._

"_I'm a spirit." he answered._

"_A spirit?" she queried._

"_Yes, I'm a being able to posses other existences as to support and transfer magical energy."_

_Rukia looked thoughtful for a moment._

"_So," she started softly. "What would happen if you fuse with a being who already posses magical power, such as a mage?"_

"_Well," he said. "Both beings would become infusible and their magic would become one."_

"_Oh…" she said softly. "Now what is your name, spirit?"_

_He laughed and his tanned skin around his eyes crinkled up._

"_I am called Tazen."_

_Rukia stood and pointed to a large tree in the centre of the camp._

"_Tazen, do you see that tree?" she asked._

"_Yes, I do."_

"_It is said to be filled with our ancestors' power." she said. "Is that the same concept as you?"_

_He shook his head. "It is not the same." he explained. "It is only a mass of magical energy."_

"_Oh," she said in understanding. "Can you fuse with me?"_

"_Yes I can."_

"_Okay. Then don't."_

_He looked at her in amusement._

"_Why not?" he asked._

"_Because if you do fuse with it, you'd merge with it and I'd be unable to keep tabs on you." she said in a solid voice._

_He blinked._

"_Warrior mage, do you actually mean you won't have anyone to talk to?"_

"_I mean no such thing!" she barked angrily, her cheeks stained pink. She stomped her foot before marching away from him._

"_Wait!" he called. "What is that on your wrist?"_

_She stopped and looked down at her wrist._

"_Oh, you mean this?" she pointed to the strange symbol there. "Everyone here has it. My sister told me once that it was a curse. She also said I'm lucky to not have inherited them all."_

"_A curse?" Tazen asked. "What type of curse is it?"_

_Rukia looked back down at her wrist before looking up at the soupy looking sky._

"_Young death."_

_-O-_

"_I heard you're the new mage here."_

_She turned to watch the tall man with spiky black hair and green eyes. He grinned and placed his hands on his waist._

"_I hope your strong." he smirked._

_The seventeen year old glared coldly up at him before looking back at the book in her lap._

"_Ouch…that was…cold. I was just trying to welcome you."_

_She slammed her book shut and glared icily up at the man._

"_I wouldn't be her if I wasn't strong!" she snapped. "I hope you are because I wouldn't tolerate anyone holding me back."_

_He gave her a wide grin._

"_Wow…" he said with a hint of amusement in his voice. "I like that confident attitude of yours. It's just too bad that you just snapped at your commander."_

_In no time flat, she was on her feet bowing._

"_My deepest apologize, sir." she said quickly, her head low to hide the look of embarrassment on her face. "I-"_

"_Don't bother." he cut her off. "I like that snappy attitude of yours. Just don't be too much of a pain with it."_

_She raised her head to look at him, shock written all over face. Her mouth opened to disagree but she was cut of as he laughed._

_She looked at him questioningly. He ruffled her pale hair and she tried to swat his hand away. He smirked._

"_Listen up everyone!" he shouted at the rest of the lunchroom. Everyone stopped what they were doing and gave him full their full attention. "From now on, we're going to call…" He turned to her. "What's your name?"_

"_R-Rukia." she answered a bit hesitantly._

"_Rukia's new name is Snappy. You guys got that? I'd punish anyone who calls her by any other name. You guys understand?" The grin on his face was the proof that he was only playing._

_There was a playful chorus of "Yes sir!"_

_He turned back to Rukia with that grin still on his face._

"_I'm the leader of this group of mages. Name is Kaien. We have quite a few beginner mages here so don't be too mean," he gave her a playful wink. "With that you should be alright."_

_She stared at him in surprise for a moment. He frowned._

"_What are you supposed to say when someone gives you some advice?" he asked._

_She looked at him stupidly before mumbling a barely audible "Thank you."_

"_Huh?" he asked loudly._

"_I said thank you!" she shouted over him._

_She blushed and covered her mouth. Everyone else in the lunchroom burst out laughing. Kaien turned to her and grinned. She soon found herself doing the same._

_Barely six months late, she would be kneeling next to this man. Steam would be coming at them from all directions. He would beg her to leave as he was just dead weight. She would refuse._

"_Don't be ridiculous, Rukia! We can't allow them to catch us both."_

_The look on her face caused his voice to soften._

"_Everyone is counting on us so don't give me that look and just go."_

_Tears pooled in her eyes as she felt the tall earthen spire sticking from his leg. She placed her head against it and sighed, her heart feeling too heavy for her chest. She reached for his shredded hand and played with his bloody fingers. She pressed his blood caked palm to her lips._

"_I won't be able to forgive myself if you die alone, Kaien."_

_His eyes widened and ironically, he found himself laughing. He stopped and used his good hand to wipe the water out of his eyes._

"_Snappy, if you don't go a load of other people would be dying alone."_

_She still refused to go. He sighed._

"_Rukia, if you don't go, I would be dying for nothing at all."_

_She looked down at the ground as to not see his pleading face. A few tears fell from her eyes and turned to steam before they hit the floor._

"_Rukia…"_

_She ignored him._

"_Rukia…c'mon…look at me. I have to tell you something."_

_Her eyes left the ground and she allowed him to see her tear stained face._

_He took a deep breath._

"_You see, if I die here it's not really the end. When we die, we only go away for a while. Someday, we'd come back into existence. Probably not in this word or looking the same but we definitely would. It's a never-ending cycle." He paused here and smiled. "If people care about each other deeply, they'd definitely see each other again. So you see, I'm positive that we'd see each other again, Snappy."_

_The cave shook violently and a growl bounced against the walls._

"_Okay, you need to leave now." he said quickly as his eyes darted._

"_But Kaien…"_

"_Didn't you hear me, Rukia? I'd see you again. I'm sure of it." he smiled. "So hurry and get out of here, Snappy."_

-O-

All of these memories came rushing back to her and she found herself smiling. Of course, she was going to see him again. She believed that; she knew that. Oh heck, she was sure of it.

She stared into the moist eyes of the man before her. Her whole body ached and her heartbeat was getting fainter by the second but still, all of her attention was absorbed by him. While others would be absorbed with the fact that they were dying, he was more important than that.

Leaning up, she whispered the blessed words in his ear.

"Ichigo, I'll see you late. It's a promise, 'kay?"

His eyes widened and she smiled.

"I loved you, Ichigo."

-O-

Ivy's indigo eyes sparkled in glee. The air before her rippled and caused her dirty blonde hair to float. Soon, the rest of her followed the example of her hair. She reached out to touch the moon as she passed it. Her fingers just barely missed it.

"I've figured it out!" she gasped as she stood suspended in the air. "This place…I know this place! This is 'The Net', isn't it?"

A gasp of surprise made its way to her ears. She looked up to see something very much like a boy lying on the stars. He certainly wasn't human. His eyes were a sharp yellow and his shin was pale green. His black hair crowded his face messily and some was pulled into an untidy ponytail at the top of his head. He had a pair of full lips, a straight nose, a strange tattoo on his left cheek and long, pointed ears. A pair of dirty, scaly wings grew from his back. He wore a pair of trousers and had a long, sleek tail. He looked about her age.

"Hey, you!" Ivy called. He ignored her. "I'm talking to you!"

His head snapped in her direction.

"You can see me?" he asked.

"Why shouldn't I be able to?" she shot back. He sighed and sat on the air.

"Well, none of the other creatures here ever seemed to be able to." he admitted.

"Oh…well…I am!" Ivy grinned.

He jumped from his seat and landed on the air near her. Seemingly, he was gaining interest in her.

"What sort of being are you?" he asked as he walked towards her. The air rippled with each of his steps.

"I'm a human." Ivy answered as he stopped an arm's length away. "What about you?"

"Foize." he answered. He reached out to touch her hair but changed his mind at the last moment.

"Are all humans as beautiful creatures such as you?" his voice held something that made her heart flutter. A blush burst out on her face.

"Well…I guess so." she whispered softly.

He took a step away from her.

"I'm called Davsho. You?" His voice was light and he said each word quickly but as if parts of different sentences.

"My name is Ivy." she breathed. His voice was making her feel funny.

"Human Ivy," he said, still stepping away from her. "Would you come and play with me? My servants are out and there is no one here."

She tilted her head and blinked. "Of course I would play with you."

Davsho stopped walking and stood six feet away from her.

"Then would you come over here?" he asked. His voice was so innocent, sincere even. She couldn't stop herself as she slowly took the first few steps towards with, each step making ripples of their own. She felt as if she was meant to be there. His presence dragged her to him.

Soon, she found herself running full speed towards him. Everything around her seemed to blur and change. The air wasn't dark blue anymore; it was clear. White walls erected from nowhere. There was gold and priceless pottery everywhere.

Then, she crashed into his chest. He held her close and stroked her hair fondly. His eyes held something new to Ivy.

"You really are beautiful…" he gasped.

She blushed and snuggled deeper into his chest. He smelled so familiar but yet alien.

Looking up at the Foize, he seemed to have aged four years. All of his features had matured and he was taller. He sighed and caressed her cheek with his thumb. She looked down at her feet and saw that they looked further away than they had been a moment ago. Her skin was clean and her hair longer. She no longer wore the rags she wore before. Her body had matured and was clothed with rich white cloth. She even wore shoes. Her lips were fuller than before, her cheeks rosier and her face was no longer rounded.

She had aged.

"Where am I?" she asked breathlessly.

"At my home." he answered. "Would you stay with me?"

She found herself nodding.

The next moment, his lips were on hers. She couldn't think nor reason. She felt as if she was floating. Her heart felt big and light. Her knees felt weak and butterflies fluttered in her stomach. This feeling was so familiar yet new to her. She felt as if something that had been missing was finally returned to her. Her eyes started to close and she began to loose herself.

Her eyes snapped open and she pulled sharply away. He stood as a shocked and somewhat hurt beauty before her.

"What's wrong?" he asked in his light, addicting, non-human voice.

"My sister…" she gasped, tears pooling in her eyes. " She's done so much for me for so long! I just can't-"

He pressed a finger to her lips.

"Do you really care for her?" he asked gently.

She nodded, the tears in her eyes spilling over. He turned and picked up an object from a golden pillar behind them. He pressed the object into her palms and smiled. Looking down, she saw it was something like a golden wing.

"Then call her here." he suggested, his yellow eyes softening. "For people who truly care for one another can always see each other. That's how far love goes."

At that moment, she knew the words of Kaien were proven. In these worlds of recycled souls, people who truly loved each other were sure to see each other again. It was true, wasn't it? Right now, wasn't she standing before the same man she vowed to see again on that day?

Wasn't she?

__0__

_Okaii, that's the end. I've been up for a while now so I'm pretty tired. Thank you to everyone who reviewed, subscribed to and added this story to their favorites. (Feel free to leave a review :)) _

_Ummm...yeah. I'm really glad with how this turned out. I'm hoping to start another story soon but I don't know yet._

_Anyway, thank you for reading to the end.  
_


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